UPDATE: Finally managed to speak with an ESD agent! Turns out this was exactly what someone mentioned above - they were counting my final paycheck + vacation payout as "unreported earnings" even though I DID report it. The agent found my original reports and has submitted a correction to remove the overpayment completely. She said the system sometimes flags these automatically during audits and human review is needed to fix it. Such a relief! She also said they're sending these waiver emails proactively when their system detects possible errors like this. Thanks everyone for the help and advice!

This happened to my cousin too! He never even knew about an overpayment until he got the waiver email. Turns out they had him confused with someone with a similar name. The whole system is such a mess these days.

I hate to say this but you might need to talk to a lawyer who specializes in unemployment issues. I know it's expensive, but when you're facing $22k in repayments, it might be worth it. The Legal Aid office sometimes offers free consultations for these cases.

If you go the appeal route, make sure to clearly explain how you calculated your weekly income from your biweekly payments. The key issue will be whether you properly reported your work hours and earnings each week, even if the actual payment was biweekly. For example, if you earned $1600 biweekly for 80 hours of work, ESD would expect you to report $800 for each week (40 hours). If you reported the full $1600 only on the weeks you received payment, that would trigger an overpayment determination because it would appear you weren't reporting income for the alternate weeks. The good news is that if this was an honest misunderstanding about reporting requirements rather than intentional fraud, you have a much better chance of getting the overpayment reduced or the penalties waived.

Ugggghhhh the ESD system is BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR. I went through this exact nightmare scenario in January. Waiting week status for TWENTY-THREE DAYS with zero explanation! When I finally got through to someone they said "oh we needed to verify something with your employer" - THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT THREE WEEKS AGO???? The whole system is designed to frustrate people into giving up. They WANT you to abandon your claim. Don't let them win! Keep calling, keep messaging, and document EVERYTHING in case you need to appeal.

UPDATE: I finally got through to someone! Used the Claimyr service mentioned below and got connected to an ESD agent in about 15 minutes. Turns out there was an employer verification issue - my former company hadn't responded to ESD's request for information. The agent submitted an override since it had been more than 10 days with no employer response. She said my payment should process in 48-72 hours. Such a relief! Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!

Has anyone tried going to WorkSource in person? I heard from a friend that sometimes the WorkSource staff can see what's happening with your claim and might be able to make internal calls to ESD on your behalf. Worth a shot maybe?

UPDATE: I want to thank everyone for their helpful suggestions! I ended up doing several things: 1) Emailed my state rep with specific details about my claim, 2) Used Claimyr to finally reach an ESD agent who escalated my claim when I explained my financial hardship, and 3) Discovered and completed a hidden task in my online account. Not sure which one did the trick, but my adjudication was completed yesterday and benefits are being deposited tomorrow! Don't give up hope if you're stuck in adjudication - being persistent and trying multiple approaches really does help.

Hey, I just noticed something in your original post - you mentioned this is a 12-week program? Make sure you're aware that after 5 weeks on unemployment, your job search requirements change and you have to be willing to accept work outside your usual occupation or at lower pay (like 90% of previous wages for weeks 5-8, then 80% after that). So if retail jobs that require weekend work become "suitable employment" for you after a few weeks, that gardening program could actually make you unavailable for suitable work by ESD's definition.

Thank you all for the helpful advice! I'm going to try contacting ESD directly to document this situation. Better to be upfront now than deal with problems later. I'll make it clear that I'm primarily looking for work in my field (which is typically M-F) but that I'm willing to accept suitable work even if it means quitting the gardening program. Sounds like being transparent is the safest approach.