I just checked with my friend who works as a job counselor, and she said there's been a wave of these mysterious disqualifications lately. ESD apparently updated their system in March 2025 and it's been flagging legitimate claims for review. Most people who call in are getting it resolved pretty quickly once they reach someone.

UPDATE: I finally got through to ESD this morning (used the Claimyr service that was recommended here - totally worth it). Turns out their system flagged my claim because I used a different device to file last week and it triggered some kind of security review. The agent removed the disqualification and said my payment should process in 24-48 hours. She also added notes to my account so it shouldn't happen again. Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions!

Something a lot of people don't realize is that ESD has specific rules about the transition back to work. When you accept a job offer, you're still eligible to claim until you start working. Once you start working, you report hours worked that week, even without pay. If you work less than full-time hours (less than 40 per week), you may qualify for partial benefits if your earnings for that week are less than your weekly benefit amount. What confuses many people is the difference between hours worked versus payment received. ESD only cares about when you performed the work, not when you got paid for it. This is actually designed to protect workers - imagine if you worked but then the employer went bankrupt before paying you. ESD's system ensures you're covered during the work period regardless of when payment arrives. The interview experience you had sounds unnecessarily harsh, but I would still recommend keeping your claim active by filing weekly (with accurate hours reported) until you're financially stable with the new job. Better safe than sorry if something unexpected happens.

A practical tip for anyone in this situation: take screenshots of your weekly claim submissions showing the hours you reported. I had an issue last year where ESD claimed I hadn't reported properly, but I had screenshots showing every submission with dates and confirmation numbers. Saved me from a potential overpayment nightmare.

By the way, to everyone saying it's fine - the problem isn't always about eligibility! Sometimes ESD calculates your benefit amount wrong and then realizes it later. My friend was getting $890 a week for three weeks, then suddenly they said his actual benefit was only supposed to be $670 and he had to pay back over $600! So even if you ARE approved, they can still mess up the amount and demand repayment. The whole system is just broken beyond belief.

update? did u get the official letter yet? im curious cuz im still waiting on my first payment 😩

I'm in the same boat right now actually. Mine switched to pending yesterday but I'm just gonna wait til Monday and see what happens. Last time I stressed myself out for nothing. The pending status doesn't always mean anything bad.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think I'll wait until Monday before panicking. Sounds like this happens a lot with ESD's system showing 'pending' even when things are actually processing normally. If nothing shows up by Tuesday morning, I'll try using that Claimyr service to get through to someone. Will update here once I know what happens!

My brother had his claim stuck four months!! He called governors office and nothing happened for almost 3 weeks, then suddenly everything was fixed and he got backpay for everything. So dont give up hope but also dont expect miracles tomorrow. The system is totally broken.

One thing I learned from my experience - when your claim does get approved after adjudication, if you're owed backpay, it typically shows up 2-3 business days after the approval. Just so you can plan accordingly once you see movement on your claim status.