Can you pause unemployment benefits Washington ESD without losing eligibility?

You can't technically 'pause' your claim, but you can report your work hours and earnings on your weekly claims. If you work full time and earn over your weekly benefit amount, you'll get $0 that week but your claim stays active. This is better than stopping your weekly claims completely.

whatever you do DON'T stop filing your weekly claims!! I made that mistake last year when I got a temp job and when the job ended Washington ESD made me reapply for everything. It took weeks to get approved again.

I was in a similar situation trying to reach Washington ESD about this exact question. Their phone lines are absolutely brutal - I must have called 200+ times over two weeks. Finally used Claimyr.com and got through to an actual person in under 10 minutes. The agent confirmed what others are saying - keep filing weekly even if you're earning too much to get paid. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ that shows exactly how it works.

The key thing to understand is that when you work and earn money, Washington ESD deducts that from your weekly benefit amount. If you earn more than your weekly benefit amount plus $5, you get $0 for that week but your claim remains active. You still need to report the work though.

just keep filing every week no matter what, trust me on this one

Also make sure you understand the difference between temporary work and permanent work. If Washington ESD thinks you've found permanent full-time work, they might close your claim automatically. But if it's clearly temporary or seasonal, you should be fine continuing to file.

The Washington ESD website actually has pretty clear info about this if you can find it buried in there somewhere. But yeah the main thing is don't stop filing your weekly claims or you'll have to start over.

One thing nobody mentioned - make sure you're still doing your job search activities even while you're working the temp job. Washington ESD requires 3 job search activities per week unless you're exempt.

I went through this same thing and tried calling Washington ESD probably 50 times to get clarification. Finally used that Claimyr service someone mentioned and got through immediately. The agent told me as long as I keep filing weekly and report all my work honestly, my claim stays active even if I get $0 payments for several weeks.

whatever you do dont let your benefit year expire while youre working. I think you have to file at least once every 4 weeks or something to keep it active but im not 100% sure on the exact timeframe

The whole system is so confusing. I wish they made it clearer what to do when you get temporary work. It shouldn't be this complicated to figure out.

Just to follow up on the Claimyr thing - I've used it twice now when I needed to talk to Washington ESD and it's been a lifesaver. Way better than the endless busy signals and getting hung up on. If you need to talk to someone about your specific situation, it's definitely worth checking out.

Pro tip: when you report your work hours, be super accurate. Don't round up or down. Washington ESD can cross-reference with employer reports and any discrepancies can cause problems later.

I'm in a similar boat actually. Got offered a 2-month contract but was scared to take it because I didn't want to mess up my unemployment. This thread convinced me I can do both as long as I keep filing weekly.

One more thing to keep in mind - make sure your employer knows this is temporary work and won't be reporting you as a permanent hire to Washington ESD. Sometimes there can be confusion on the employer side too.

honestly the whole unemployment system needs an overhaul but until then we just have to work within their confusing rules

Thanks for asking this question OP. I've been wondering the same thing but was too scared to ask. This thread has been super helpful.

Bottom line summary for anyone skimming: Keep filing your weekly claims, report ALL work and earnings honestly, mark temporary work as temporary, and your claim stays active even if you get $0 payments for those weeks. Don't stop filing or you'll have to reapply from scratch.

One last thing - if you do run into any weird issues with your claims while you're working, don't panic. Just call Washington ESD (or use that service people mentioned) and get it sorted out ASAP. The longer you wait the harder it gets to fix.

This whole thread should be pinned somewhere. So much better than trying to navigate Washington ESD's website or sitting on hold for hours.

Just wanted to add my experience here too - I was in almost the exact same situation last year with a 2-month temp job. I kept filing my weekly claims the whole time, reported all my hours and earnings, and when the temp job ended I was able to resume getting payments immediately without any hassle. The key really is being consistent with your weekly filings and being completely honest about your work situation. Washington ESD actually makes it pretty straightforward once you understand that working doesn't automatically end your claim - it just pauses your payments while keeping your benefit year active.

I went through this exact same situation a few months ago and can confirm what everyone is saying - definitely keep filing your weekly claims! I was terrified I'd mess something up, but it actually worked perfectly. I took a 10-week temp position, filed every single week reporting my hours and earnings, got $0 payments during those weeks, and then seamlessly resumed getting benefits when the job ended. The Washington ESD system is actually designed to handle this, even though they don't explain it very clearly. Just make sure you're 100% accurate with your reporting and clearly note that it's temporary work. You'll be fine!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I was actually in a similar situation a few years back and made the mistake of overthinking it. I stopped filing for a couple weeks because I thought I was "cheating the system" by filing while working full time, even though I wasn't getting paid anything. Big mistake - it took forever to get everything sorted out again. The system really is set up to handle temporary work situations, you just have to trust the process and keep filing those weekly claims. Also, don't forget to keep copies of everything - your work contracts, pay stubs, and screenshots of your weekly filings. Having that documentation saved me when I had a minor discrepancy later on that needed to be resolved.

I'm in Washington state too and dealt with this exact situation about 6 months ago. The advice everyone's giving here is spot on - you absolutely must keep filing your weekly claims even while working the temp job. I made the mistake of skipping one week early on because I thought "well I'm working full time this week so why bother filing" and it created a gap that took 3 phone calls to fix. The Washington ESD rep told me that as long as you file consistently and report all your work honestly, your claim stays in "active" status even during $0 payment weeks. When my temp contract ended after 8 weeks, I just went back to filing normally and started receiving payments again with zero issues. The key is treating those work weeks like any other week - file on time, report everything accurately, and don't overthink it.