Bottom line for anyone else reading this thread: Washington has NO waiting week as of 2021. You get paid for your first eligible week IF your claim is approved and you meet all requirements for that week. If you're seeing $0 for week 1, it's probably because your claim is still processing or there's an eligibility issue, not because of a waiting week.

Just wanted to add my experience for anyone else dealing with this confusion - I filed my Washington unemployment claim about 6 weeks ago and was also worried about the waiting week. After reading through all these responses, I can confirm that Washington really did eliminate the waiting week. I got paid for my first week once my claim was fully approved, which took about 3 weeks total. The key is just being patient while they process everything and making sure you meet all the weekly requirements from day one. Don't stress if you see $0 initially - it doesn't mean there's a waiting week, it just means they're still working on your claim!

Don't forget that if Monday is a holiday, it can push everything back a day. Washington ESD doesn't process claims on federal holidays.

Just wanted to update everyone - my deposit came through this morning (Thursday) like several people predicted. Thanks for the reassurance that this timing is normal!

Thanks everyone for all the detailed responses. This is exactly the kind of practical information that Washington ESD should provide upfront but doesn't. Really appreciate this community!

Another place to check is your initial claim confirmation page when you log into the Washington ESD portal. If you go to "View Claim Details" or "Claim History," the account number is often displayed at the top of that page along with your claim status. I found mine there when I couldn't locate my monetary determination letter. Also, make sure you're checking all folders in your email - sometimes those ESD emails end up in spam or promotions folders.

This thread has been really helpful. I'm dealing with a similar situation with workers comp and unemployment. It seems like the general rule is you can't get both, but talking to Washington ESD directly is the only way to know for sure.

I went through something similar when I had surgery last year. The key thing Washington ESD told me is that you have to be "able and available" for work to get unemployment benefits. If you're receiving disability payments, they assume you're not able to work, which automatically disqualifies you from UI benefits. However, since you mentioned you have partial restrictions rather than being completely unable to work, your situation might be different. I'd strongly recommend calling Washington ESD directly to discuss your specific case - they can tell you definitively whether your partial restrictions would still allow you to meet the "able and available" requirement. Don't risk filing for both without getting official confirmation first, because if they find out later you could face serious penalties.

So happy for you!!! Hope I'm posting my success story soon too!

This is such an encouraging post to read! I'm currently on week 3 of pending status and was starting to get really anxious about it. Knowing that yours took 8 weeks but eventually came through gives me some perspective. I've been doing the Tuesday morning calls too but haven't had luck getting through yet. Going to try the portal messaging approach you mentioned - I hadn't thought of explaining my hardship situation in detail there. Quick question: when you uploaded your ID docs the second time, did you get any kind of confirmation that they received them? I submitted mine last week but the system doesn't really give you much feedback on whether they actually got processed. Congrats again on finally getting your payment! Stories like this keep the rest of us going.