Remember to keep all your documentation from the school about your employment status. If Washington ESD questions your claim later, you'll need proof of what assurances you did or didn't receive.

I work as a classroom aide too and successfully got unemployment benefits last summer! The key thing that helped me was being very clear in my application that I only had verbal assurance from my supervisor about returning in the fall, not any written contract or formal letter. Washington ESD approved my claim within about 3 weeks. Make sure you emphasize that your position isn't guaranteed and you have no written documentation promising you'll be rehired. Also be prepared for the job search requirements - I applied to retail and office jobs during the summer even though I knew I'd likely return to the school. It felt silly but it's required to keep getting benefits. File as soon as possible because there is definitely a waiting period!

UPDATE: You all were right! It was a system error. After trying everything (calling repeatedly, messaging through the portal, contacting our state rep), we finally got through to someone at ESD by calling the governor's office. They had a liaison who escalated it to someone with higher access at ESD. They reversed the bogus $26K charge completely AND processed the refund for the money they'd been taking from his benefits! The money should be deposited next week. I'm incredibly relieved but also disturbed by how easy it would have been to just give up and accept their mistake. The ESD rep actually told us this has been happening to other people too after appeals - the system incorrectly doubles or triples overpayment amounts instead of removing them. For anyone else facing this nightmare: DOCUMENT EVERYTHING, be persistent, and don't be afraid to go straight to the governor's office if needed. Thank you all for your support and advice!

Wow, what a rollercoaster! I'm so relieved to see your update that everything got resolved. This whole situation is both inspiring and deeply troubling. Inspiring because it shows that persistence and knowing where to escalate can actually work, but troubling because of how broken the system clearly is. The fact that an ESD rep admitted this is happening to "other people too" after appeals is really concerning. It makes you wonder how many folks just accepted these inflated amounts because they didn't know how to fight back or gave up after hitting the usual dead ends. Your experience is going to be invaluable for others facing similar issues. The governor's office route seems like it should be more widely known - I never would have thought to try that approach. Thanks for sharing the whole journey and coming back with the resolution. Stories like this give people hope that these bureaucratic nightmares can actually be fixed with the right approach!

To answer your follow-up question - you should continue filing weekly claims until your earnings exceed your weekly benefit amount. When you report full-time work or earnings higher than your benefit amount, the system will automatically stop your claim. This is important because if your job doesn't work out during the first few weeks (which happens sometimes), you won't have to restart your claim from scratch. Once you're stable in your new job, your claim will just become inactive automatically.

Congratulations on the new job! Just to reinforce what others have said - yes, you absolutely must report those work hours even though you haven't been paid yet. The weekly claim asks about work PERFORMED during the claim week, not when payment is received. Since you worked 40 hours at $18/hour ($720 gross), that's definitely above your $624 weekly benefit amount, so you likely won't receive unemployment benefits for that week. But still file your claim and report everything accurately - this protects you from any potential overpayment issues later. For future reference, keep filing weekly claims until you're confident the job is stable. If something happens and you lose the job in the first few weeks, you'll be able to continue receiving benefits without having to restart your entire claim. Good luck with the new position!

Bottom line for everyone asking - yes you pay federal taxes on unemployment, no state taxes in Washington. Set up 10% withholding if possible, keep good records, and don't panic if you haven't been planning for taxes. You can still get it sorted out.

I went through this exact same situation last year! The tax withholding option can be really hard to find sometimes. What worked for me was logging into the Washington ESD website on a desktop computer (not mobile) and looking carefully during the weekly claim process. It's usually after the work search questions but before you submit. If you still can't find it, you can also call and ask them to add the withholding to your account - though I know the phone system is frustrating. For what it's worth, even though 10% withholding might not cover everything depending on your tax bracket, it definitely helps avoid that huge surprise bill at tax time. Don't stress too much about the money you've already received without withholding - just start saving what you can going forward and consider setting aside maybe 15-20% of your weekly payments if possible.

UPDATE: Just got my decision today - APPROVED!! It only took 8 days from my interview. Much faster than I expected after reading everyone's responses. Now I'm just waiting for the payments to hit my account. Thanks everyone for your help!

Congrats on getting approved so quickly! That's definitely faster than the typical timeline. For future reference for anyone else reading this thread - your case was probably expedited because hour reduction cases are usually pretty clear-cut, especially when the employer doesn't contest the claim. The fact that your boss was surprised you qualified probably means they didn't file a response challenging your eligibility, which would have made the adjudication process much smoother and faster for ESD.