Based on everything in this thread, here's what I recommend: 1. Apply for partial unemployment immediately 2. Talk to your boss and get written confirmation that your hours were reduced due to business slowdown 3. Request standby status if your boss believes you'll return to full-time within 4-8 weeks 4. If standby is denied, complete your 3 job search activities each week 5. Report all earnings accurately when filing weekly claims You're doing the right thing by exploring your options rather than just quitting. The system is designed to help in exactly your situation - when work slows down but hasn't completely stopped.

Just wanted to add one more thing that might help - when you do apply, make sure to apply online through the ESD website rather than trying to call. The online system is much more reliable and you'll get your claim started immediately. Also, keep detailed records of everything: your reduced hours each week, any conversations with your boss about the situation, and all your job search activities if you don't get standby status. Having good documentation can really help if any issues come up later. Good luck with your application! The partial unemployment benefits should definitely help bridge the gap until your hours pick back up.

I'm dealing with this exact same issue! Filed my weekly claim Sunday evening and it's been stuck on processing since then. This is my first time experiencing this delay and I was getting really worried. Reading through everyone's comments here is so helpful - sounds like it's a widespread system issue this week rather than something specific to individual claims. I'll keep checking my account and hopefully it switches to paid soon like it did for others. Thanks for posting about this and to everyone who shared their experiences!

This is such a relief to read! I'm new to unemployment benefits and when my claim got stuck on processing after filing Sunday, I thought I had done something wrong. I've been checking my account obsessively every few hours. It's really helpful to see that this is a known issue that happens periodically with ESD's system. I'll stop panicking and just wait it out - hopefully mine updates to paid status soon like everyone else's did. Thanks for sharing your experience and creating this thread!

Just wanted to follow up since several people asked about Claimyr - I used them again yesterday to get clarification on my job search requirements and it was super quick. The agent explained exactly what activities count and how to document them properly. Really takes the stress out of dealing with Washington ESD.

Thanks everyone for all the detailed info! This is really helpful. I'm feeling much more confident about what to expect now. It sounds like with my $52k salary I should be looking at somewhere in the $400-600 range per week, which would definitely help cover my basic expenses while job hunting. I'm going to check out that benefit calculator on the Washington ESD website and also look into Claimyr if I run into issues getting through to them by phone. Really appreciate this community having so much practical advice!

To summarize what everyone has said: ABY = "Able and Available: Yes" which means you correctly certified that you were able and available for work during that week. It's a positive status code that indicates your weekly claim was properly filed in terms of the availability requirement. As long as you're meeting your job search requirements (3 activities weekly) and don't have other issues, your claim should process normally with this status.

Just wanted to add that if you're new to unemployment like I was, it's worth bookmarking this thread! I had the same panic when I first saw ABY on my claim status. The ESD website really could use better documentation of these codes. For anyone else reading this - ABY is definitely one of the "good" codes you want to see. It means you're doing everything right on that front. The ones to watch out for are the ones that start with "D" (like DEN for denied) or "ADJ" for adjudication like others mentioned. Keep doing your job searches and you should be fine!

One more thing about maximizing benefits - if you find temporary or part-time work, you might still be able to collect partial benefits. Washington ESD has a formula for how much you can earn before it affects your weekly benefit amount. Don't assume you have to choose between working and collecting.

One tip I haven't seen mentioned yet - make sure you understand what happens if you refuse work. Washington ESD requires you to accept "suitable work" and they have specific criteria for what that means. Generally, after some time on benefits, you might have to accept jobs that pay less than your previous wage. Know the rules so you don't accidentally get disqualified for refusing something they consider suitable.