One important thing nobody has mentioned - make sure you know the EXACT DATE you'll receive each payment. ESD will want to know this, and it matters for how they allocate the payments. If your HR department hasn't given you specific payment dates for each type of payment, ask them now before you file. Also, if your stock bonus is actually RSUs (restricted stock units) vesting, that's treated differently from a cash bonus. The timing of when RSUs vest vs when they're converted to cash can impact how ESD views them. Definitely apply on August 27th, not before. And set a reminder to complete your first weekly claim the following week - many people forget this step and it delays their benefits.

Just went through a similar situation last month! One thing that really helped me was getting everything in writing from HR before my last day. I asked them to provide a written breakdown of each payment type, the amounts, and the exact dates I'd receive them. This made filing my claim so much smoother because I could reference the official documents when answering ESD's questions. Also, when you file your claim, there's a section specifically for "separation payments" - don't just lump everything together. List each payment separately with its own description. The ESD adjudicator who reviews your claim will appreciate the clarity and it reduces the chance of delays or mistakes. Good luck with everything! The waiting period for those additional payments is frustrating, but at least you'll know exactly when your benefits should start flowing.

This whole discussion has been so reassuring! I've been on unemployment for about 5 weeks now and was already starting to worry about what happens when I eventually find work. Seeing Connor's situation and all the helpful responses really breaks down the process nicely. The main points I'm taking away are: report the new job on your next weekly claim, be completely honest about start dates, keep filing until you actually start work, then stop once you begin full-time employment. It's good to know the online system handles most of it without needing to make dreaded phone calls to ESD. Connor, huge congratulations on landing the job - that's awesome news! And thanks to everyone else who shared their experiences, especially the tips about documentation and being upfront about everything. This community is such a great resource for navigating these transitions!

This has been such an informative thread! I'm currently on week 3 of unemployment and already thinking ahead to when I hopefully land a new position. It's really comforting to see how straightforward the process actually is - just report honestly on your weekly claim when you get the job, keep filing until you start work, then stop once you begin full-time employment. Connor, congratulations on your new job! It must feel amazing after 8 weeks of searching. I'm also really appreciating all the practical tips here like taking screenshots for documentation and the reminder that Washington ESD will find out about employment eventually anyway through their wage matching system. The honesty-is-the-best-policy approach definitely seems like the way to go. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences - it's making what seemed like a potentially complicated process feel much more manageable!

I've been having the same login issues with SecureAccess for my PFML claim! Started having problems Wednesday and thought it was just me. Really appreciate everyone sharing the info about the maintenance window - I had no idea that was happening since I don't follow them on Twitter. The deadline extension is such a relief too. I'm going to try some of the suggestions here like using Firefox instead of Chrome and going directly to paidleave.wa.gov once the system is back up tomorrow evening. It's frustrating how poorly they communicate these outages, but at least we're all helping each other figure it out!

I've been having the exact same problem since Tuesday! Really glad to see I'm not the only one struggling with this. The SecureAccess login has been giving me that same "Unable to process your request" error every time I try to file my weekly PFML claim. I was getting really worried about missing the deadline, but seeing all the helpful info in this thread about the maintenance window and deadline extension is such a relief. Thanks to everyone who shared the Twitter updates and phone numbers - I never would have known about any of this otherwise. ESD really needs to do better about communicating these outages on their main website instead of just buried Twitter posts. I'm going to try the Firefox browser suggestion and going directly to paidleave.wa.gov once the system is back up tomorrow evening. Hopefully we can all get our claims filed without any more issues!

I just went through this EXACT situation last week! Same thing - weeks showing disqualified with absolutely zero letters or explanations anywhere in my account. I spent 3 days panicking and checking every section of the ESD website multiple times. Finally got through to them on Thursday morning (called right at 8:01 AM) and it turned out to be a system glitch where my wage verification got stuck in some kind of processing loop. The agent said she's been seeing this issue a lot lately - something about their system update in February causing problems with new claims. She fixed it in literally 2 minutes and all my payments were released the next day. Definitely call them ASAP - don't waste time trying to figure it out online like I did. The "disqualified" status in these cases almost never means you actually did anything wrong!

I'm a newcomer here but dealing with this exact same frustrating situation! Just filed my third weekly claim and all three weeks show "disqualified" with zero explanation letters anywhere in my account. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been incredibly helpful - it's such a relief to know this is a widespread system issue and not something I messed up on my application. I'm definitely going to try the 8:02 AM calling strategy that Emma mentioned and use the specific wording about "disqualified weeks with zero decision letters." It's ridiculous that we have to jump through all these hoops just to talk to someone about a system glitch, but at least now I know what to expect when I call. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - this thread is way more helpful than anything on the official ESD website!

I'm in a similar situation - getting laid off next month with an $11,000 severance package. This thread has been incredibly reassuring! I was also worried about the all-or-nothing scenario, but hearing from people who actually went through this process shows that Washington ESD handles it much more reasonably than I expected. The proration method where you still get partial UI benefits during the severance weeks makes total sense financially. One question I haven't seen addressed - does it matter if part of my severance includes accelerated vesting of stock options, or does Washington ESD only care about the cash portion? I want to make sure I report everything correctly from the start to avoid any complications down the road.

Great question about the stock options! I went through something similar last year with my severance package that included both cash and accelerated stock vesting. Washington ESD typically only considers the cash portion of severance for UI benefit calculations - the stock option acceleration is usually treated separately since it's not immediate income. However, I'd strongly recommend being completely transparent about all components when you file your initial claim. When I spoke with Washington ESD (took a few tries to get through), they told me to report the cash amount for the severance calculation and note the stock component separately. The stock vesting didn't affect my weekly benefit reduction at all, but they appreciated having the full picture upfront. Better to over-disclose than have questions come up later during an audit or review.