I had a similarly complex situation last year (pregnancy leave that turned into a layoff), and what finally worked was contacting my state representative's office. They have dedicated staff who can reach out to ESD on your behalf. My claim was resolved within 10 days after my rep's office got involved. Might be worth a try if you're still stuck after trying the direct approach.

Good news! I just checked the ESD adjudication processing times dashboard, and they're currently processing cases from 8-10 weeks ago. So you should be coming up in their queue very soon. Here's the link if you want to check it yourself: https://esd.wa.gov/unemployment/dashboard Be prepared for a possible interview call once your case comes up for review. Have all your documentation organized and ready to discuss the timeline of your LOA, termination date, and when you became available for work again. Good luck!

my cousin works at esd and says they're super backed up with all the benefit year transitions right now. april is apparently their busiest month for this. he says just wait it out.

UPDATE: My claim just switched from pending to active today (day 5). Didn't receive any notification - just happened to check this morning. Thanks everyone for the advice and reassurance! For anyone else going through this, seems like waiting is the best approach unless it goes beyond a week.

Another important thing to remember is that if you're starting your job in 2 weeks, you should continue filing your weekly claims until you actually start working. You're still eligible for benefits during that waiting period as long as you're meeting all other requirements (available for work, conducting job search activities, etc.). Once you begin working, file that final claim reporting your employment as others have mentioned. This ensures you receive all benefits you're entitled to while properly closing out your claim.

Yes, technically you need to continue your three job search activities each week until you actually start working. However, if you have a definite job offer with a confirmed start date, you can request to be placed on "standby" status for those final weeks, which would exempt you from job search requirements. You'd need to call ESD to request this, though, and for just two weeks it might be simpler to just do the job search activities.

my sister works for esd (not in claims tho) and she says sometimes theres just a random flag on ur acct that needs to be removed by a person. could be identity verification or something with ur previous employer. keep calling is my advice!!!!

Any update on your situation? Were you able to get through to ESD and find out what happened?

Have you been filing your weekly claims this entire time? Even while waiting for appeal and after winning, you MUST continue filing weekly claims or you won't get paid for those weeks, regardless of eligibility. I've seen many people win appeals but not get full back pay because they stopped filing weekly claims during the appeal process.

Update for anyone following this thread: I talked to the OP privately and they finally got through to ESD using the advice here. Their payment is being processed now and they should receive all back benefits within 48 hours! Sometimes it just takes persistence (and knowing exactly who to ask for).

Thanks everyone for the advice! I'm going to report all my hours on Saturday since that's when my shift starts. I'll also check with my supervisor to see how the company reports our overnight hours to make sure everything matches up. Really appreciate all the help!

THE ENTIRE ESD SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO CONFUSE PEOPLE! This is exactly how they trip people up and then charge them with "fraud" when it was their confusing system all along. I spent THREE MONTHS fighting an overpayment because of this exact issue. Make sure you document EVERYTHING and save screenshots of your weekly claim submissions. The system is rigged against workers, especially those with non-traditional schedules.

Just checking back - were you able to get through to ESD? What did they say about the $5 payment?

THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN!!! This is the third post I've seen this week about payment errors. How are people supposed to survive when ESD can't even pay the right amounts?? And you can never reach anyone there! I'm still waiting for backpay from FEBRUARY!!!! 😡😡😡

After reading all this im so glad I used Claimyr instead of calling myself. it saved me HOURS. Just google it. after 2 weeks of trying myself i paid them and got through to ESD in an hour.

To directly answer your original question, here are ALL the ESD phone numbers that might help: - Main Claims Center: 800-318-6022 (best chance, but hardest to reach) - Technical Support: 855-682-0785 (limited help with claim status) - Office of Special Investigations: 800-246-9763 (only for fraud issues) - Employer Line: 877-504-5607 (not for claimants, but sometimes agents will help) If your claim has been pending more than 3 weeks, you can also try contacting your state representative's office. They often have ESD liaisons who can look into delayed claims.

Did you make it to the workshop? Hope it went ok!

sooo what was the workshop actually like? i have one next week for job search strategies and im wondering if its gonna be a waste of time. did they just read off slides or was it interactive??

One other thing to try while you're waiting to get through on the phone - check if there's a WorkSource office near you. Sometimes they can help troubleshoot basic ESD issues or at least give you information about what might be causing the delay. They won't be able to fix complex issues, but they might be able to see notes on your account that aren't visible to you.

UPDATE: I finally got through to someone at ESD this morning! Turns out there was an issue with my identity verification that needed to be resolved. They never notified me about it! The agent was able to clear it up right on the call, and she said my payments should start processing within 3-5 business days. What a relief! For anyone else stuck in pending status - keep trying to reach them. There's almost always something specific holding up your claim that can only be resolved by talking to a rep.