My cousin works for the legislative branch and said they get ESD escalations all the time. She said contacting your STATE SENATOR is actually faster than the governor because they have dedicated ESD liaisons for each district. Just google "[your city] WA state senator" and there should be a constituent services contact form.

Update: I wanted to let everyone know what ended up working! I tried multiple approaches based on all your helpful suggestions: 1. Sent a detailed follow-up to the Governor's office with the specific format recommended 2. Contacted my state senator through their website 3. Used Claimyr to actually get through to an ESD agent The Claimyr service got me to an agent first (same day), who explained my claim had a verification issue that wasn't being processed. They flagged it for review. Two days later, I got an email from my state senator's office saying they'd contacted ESD on my behalf. This morning, my claim status changed from "adjudication" to "paid" with all my back weeks! Not sure which contact finally did the trick, but I think the combination of approaches created enough pressure to get someone to actually look at my claim. Thank you all for your suggestions! For anyone else stuck in ESD limbo, don't give up!

is anyone else having the SAME problem right now?? im also showing approved but weekly claims say disqualified. ive been trying for 6 weeks. this is very suspicious that multiple accounts are affected the same way!!

UPDATE: It worked!! After completing the ID.me verification I found in my spam folder, it took about 8 business days, but all my weekly claims suddenly switched from "disqualified" to "paid"! The money was in my account the next day. For anyone else experiencing this weird "approved but disqualified" problem: 1. Check your spam/junk folders thoroughly for emails from ID.me or ESD 2. Log into ID.me directly to see if there are pending verification steps 3. Make sure you're correctly reporting your job search activities (exactly 3 per week) 4. Double-check all your weekly claim answers Special thanks to everyone who helped, especially the suggestion to check for identity verification issues. After 18 weeks of stress and no income, I finally have this resolved. Now to catch up on all these bills...

There's actually a technical reason for this. The IVR system (Interactive Voice Response) sends your claim data to a different verification queue than the online system. When you file online, the system can automatically verify certain elements, but phone claims require additional processing time because the voice recognition system isn't as accurate. This is especially true if you hesitated on any questions or if background noise interfered with your responses. If you check your claim status online, does it show any issues or just the 'processing' status? If there are no identified issues, it's likely just the normal delay from using the phone system. As others have said, expect payment on Friday instead of Wednesday this week.

yo did u get paid today??? was curious if it came thru on friday like everyone said

One thing that drives me CRAZY is they don't even tell you properly when they're taking money! My friend just found out they were taking 50% when her payment was half what she expected. No advance notice, no explanation, NOTHING! Check your payment details carefully because they won't warn you before they start taking money!

To ensure you're fully informed about your situation, I recommend taking the following steps: 1. Print out your current overpayment balance from your ESD account (under the "Overpayment" section) 2. Complete the Financial Hardship Application (Form ESD 640-001) if the 50% reduction would cause severe hardship 3. Include all required documentation of income and expenses 4. While waiting for processing, track your weekly benefit amount and the actual payment received 5. Budget accordingly, assuming 50% reduction until you receive written notification of a lower percentage The good news is that paying off the overpayment through this method doesn't impact your credit score the way other collection methods might.

One more thing I forgot to mention - if your appeal is successful, there's sometimes a delay between when your status changes to eligible and when you actually receive payment. Mine took about 5 business days after my status changed for the money to hit my account. Just so you're prepared for that additional wait. The process has several stages and none of them seem to happen quickly with ESD unfortunately.

For clarification on the exact process: After your hearing, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) typically has 30 days by law to issue a written decision, though most try to complete it within 2-3 weeks. This decision is mailed to you and to ESD simultaneously. ESD then needs to implement the judge's decision, which can take another 3-7 business days. If the decision is in your favor, your status will change from disqualified to eligible, and any back payments for weeks you properly claimed will be processed. If you haven't received anything after 30 days, you should contact the Office of Administrative Hearings (not ESD) at 1-800-366-0955 to inquire about the status of your decision. Their office is separate from ESD and handles all unemployment appeals.

Yes I did win! They decided it wasn't misconduct just regular attendance issues. I got the decision in the mail about 10 days after the hearing but it also showed up in my eServices account after about a week.

One last piece of advice: prepare a concise opening and closing statement for your hearing. About 2-3 minutes each, focusing on:\n\n1. Your work history (3 years, previously good performance)\n2. The timeline of when problems began (coinciding with new manager)\n3. Your attempts to meet changing expectations\n4. Why the \

WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T IGNORE IT!!! When I got an overpayment notice in 2022 I thought it was a mistake and didn't respond fast enough. They garnished my wages and took my tax refund without warning. Total nightmare! ESD dont play around with collections!!!

Update on what you shared about "failure to provide adequate work search documentation" - this is actually a common issue with pandemic claims. The work search requirements were waived during certain periods, then reinstated, then modified several times. It's possible ESD is retroactively reviewing claims and finding documentation gaps. When you appeal, focus specifically on: 1) Whether work search was required during your specific claim period, and 2) What documentation you provided at the time. You might also want to request all records ESD has on your claim through a public records request - this can sometimes reveal processing errors on their end.

Another thing to check - make sure your bank account info was entered 100% correctly in the ESD system. I've seen cases where people had a single digit wrong in their account number, and the payment bounced back to ESD. When that happens, they have to reissue the payment, which adds another week to the process. Login to eServices and verify your direct deposit information right away.

Any update? Did your payment come through yet?

Has anyone mentioned that if you go ahead and quit this job you should do it BEFORE hitting the 680 hour mark in your base year??? Those hours carry over to your next claim period and if u quit without good cause you lose them!!!

That's a good point about hours potentially being lost if there's a disqualification, but the concern about the specific 680 hour mark isn't quite accurate. \n\nWashington's minimum qualifying hours for a valid claim is 680 hours in your base year, but all hours worked in the base period count toward benefit calculation regardless of how many there are. There's no benefit to quitting before hitting a specific number of hours - what matters is the determination about whether the quit was for good cause.

One clarification to what others have said: Even after filing for unemployment, you still need to perform the required job search activities (3 per week) and document them. If the temp agency contacts you with a suitable position, you would need to accept it or risk disqualification. "Suitable" means comparable to your previous position in terms of wages, hours, and type of work. They can't force you to accept something completely different or at significantly reduced pay. If the agency offers you work that you believe is not suitable, document exactly why and be prepared to explain this to ESD. When listing your job separations on the initial claim, make sure to state that your "assignment ended" rather than using terms like "contract expired" which might trigger unnecessary adjudication delays.

oops forgot to mention - make sure u have ur FINAL paystub ready when u file! the ESD system will ask for ur exact earnings. they verify everything and if the numbers dont match it can delay things