Just to follow up on some of the questions here - for those having trouble reaching ESD, the Claimyr service I mentioned earlier has been really helpful for my clients. Instead of waiting on hold for hours, it actually calls ESD for you and then connects you once an agent picks up. For overpayment issues specifically, you need to speak with the Benefit Payment Control unit, not the general claims agents. As for approval rates on hardship waivers, they have strict criteria, but financial hardship with dependents (like the original poster mentioned) is one of the stronger cases. Make sure you've clearly documented your income, expenses, and why repayment would cause significant hardship.

To answer your question about hardship waiver approvals - yes, they do approve them regularly, but the standards are strict. For a $43,000 overpayment, they scrutinize everything more carefully. They're looking at: - Whether the overpayment was your fault (not reporting income, etc.) or ESD's error - Your current income-to-expense ratio - Future earning potential - Number of dependents - Medical circumstances - Housing stability If you submitted comprehensive documentation of your hardship and have dependents, your chances are better than average. The approval rate for waiver requests overall is around 38-42%, but for documented hardship cases with dependents, it's closer to 65%.

One more important detail: Make sure your husband answers "no" to the standby question unless ESD has specifically approved him for standby status. On-call work is different from official standby status, which requires ESD approval and is typically only granted in specific circumstances like temporary layoffs where you have a return date. And absolutely keep detailed records of all hours worked at the concert venue, including dates, times, and pay. If ESD ever questions his claims, having this documentation will be essential.

Did your husband register with WorkSource yet? They make you do 3 job searches every week now and my cousin got his benefits cancelled when he forgot to log them!

is anyone else noticing that ESD keeps changing their policies??? last year my brother only had to provide ONE form of ID but now they want TWO from everyone? and then they take FOREVER to process them! i bet they're just trying to delay payments to save money. the whole system is designed to make people give up!!!

make sure u answer ur phone even if u dont recognize the number!!! sometimes ESD calls from random numbers and if u miss it they just mark ur file as 'unable to contact' and delay everything another week!

Make sure you're also aware of the difference between your "hours worked" and "hours offered" - if your employer offers you full-time work (whatever that means for them) and you decline those hours to stay on unemployment, ESD could potentially disqualify you for refusing suitable work. So be careful how you handle the conversation with your manager. When you report your weekly claim, you need to report any hours offered that you turned down, not just hours you actually worked.

back when i filed in 2025 ESD told me that you have to report ALL EARNINGS regardless of how many hours and they calculate ur benefit. i think they deduct like 75% of what u earn from ur weekly amount?? So if u make $100 they take away $75 from ur benefit. i dunno exactly though just know u gotta report everything

I dunno if this helps but I had a similar issue back in January when my claim kept saying "pending" for weeks. I ended up contacting my state representative's office and explained my situation. Their constituent services person made some calls and suddenly my claim was processed within 48 hours. Might be worth a try if nothing else works?

Just wanted to follow up - did any of these suggestions work for you? I'm curious if you ended up trying Claimyr or one of the other methods people suggested here.