To directly address your question: File your claim immediately. According to ESD rules, your claim will be effective the Sunday of the week you file. The waiting week is the first week you're eligible for benefits (meet all eligibility requirements including job searches) after your claim is processed. So if you file today, and there are no issues requiring adjudication, your waiting week would likely be this current week. You won't receive benefits for the waiting week, but you must complete job search activities and file a weekly claim for it. There's absolutely no advantage to delaying your application. Only disadvantages as it pushes back when you might receive benefits.

btw the esd website says u need these for job search activities: in-person visit, virtual job fair, job application, interviews, resume submission, workshop, civil service test....i think there's more but those r the main ones they look for

Great advice. I'd also add that maintaining a claims journal with dates, times, and details of all your interactions with ESD can be invaluable. Washington law requires ESD to pay interest on significantly delayed benefits in some circumstances, but you need documentation to pursue this.

I had no idea about the interest payment requirement. I'm definitely going to start keeping better records. Thanks for all the help everyone - this community has been so much more helpful than anything I could find on the official ESD website!

Not jury duty but I had something similar with a temporary gig. I estimated my earnings and was off by like $12. They put me in adjudication but it was actually resolved pretty fast - like 10 days. As long as you keep answering their questions and filing your claims you should be fine. The fact that YOU contacted THEM about it is hugely in your favor! They're not going after you for fraud over pennies when you literally tried to fix it yourself.

UPDATE: Just wanted to let everyone know that my adjudication was resolved yesterday! They adjusted my payment by the 75 cents and everything is back to normal. Thanks for all the reassurance and advice - especially about continuing to file my weekly claims during the process. For anyone finding this thread later, it took exactly 18 days for them to resolve my case.

One more important tip: While waiting for your appeal or correction, make sure you're meeting the job search requirements each week (3 job search activities). Document everything carefully in your job search log. Even though your claims show as disqualified now, if the disqualification is overturned, they'll check that you were meeting all other requirements during that time.

update us when u get through to someone! im having similar problems and want to know if that claimyr thing actually works

have u tried the salvation army? they helped my sis last yr when she was waiting on esd. also some churches do emergency assistance this time of year

Just following up - were you able to connect with any resources through 211? Also, now that you found that hidden message in your portal, you should call ESD directly and tell them you just found it and submitted the required info. That might speed things up. When claims are in adjudication because of missing information, they can sometimes resolve quickly once you provide what they need.