Confused about filing weekly claims with overlapping ESD unemployment and paid medical leave

You definitely need to file your weekly claim even during weeks you're on medical leave. Select "no" when asked if you were able and available to work (since you weren't after surgery). The system is designed to handle overlapping benefits. If you're approved for paid medical leave for the same period, ESD will sort out any overlapping benefits on the back end - they won't pay unemployment for days covered by paid medical leave. Just make sure you're answering everything truthfully on both claims.

omg i was in almost the EXACT same boat last year!! laid off in april, surgery in may, total nightmare trying to figure out which benefit to claim when. ended up with like 3 weeks of no income bc i messed it all up lol

This is a common scenario that causes confusion. Here's what you should do: 1. Continue filing your weekly unemployment claims EVERY week - even during recovery 2. Answer all questions truthfully - mark that you weren't able/available to work after surgery 3. For the week of 12/18, you'll likely receive partial unemployment for Monday only 4. When your Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML) is approved, it will cover the days after surgery 5. ESD and PFML communicate with each other to prevent double payments Missing weekly claims causes more problems than filing and being denied for those specific days. Just keep filing and be honest about your work ability.

The ESD website is USELESS for explaining what to do in these situations!!! I went through something similar and ended up getting an overpayment notice 6 months later because apparently I was supposed to report my workers comp differently than I did. Still fighting that battle.

I work as an employment counselor, and here's my advice: Yes, file for both benefits. The Paid Medical Leave claim will be handled by a separate department than regular unemployment. When you file your weekly UI claim, you'll answer "no" to being able and available for work (for the days after surgery), and UI will deny benefits for those specific days. Once your medical leave is approved, you'll receive those benefits instead. There's actually a specific process for this in the ESD system. They call it "concurrent benefits" and have internal procedures to ensure you don't get paid twice for the same day. The key thing is to be consistent and accurate with your reporting on both claims.

btw dont forget doctors note!! they asked me for one later and i almost got denied bc i didnt keep it

Once your claims are sorted out, you might see a period where you get partial unemployment (for Monday when you were able to work) and paid medical leave (for the days after surgery) in the same week. That's normal and allowed. Just keep answering all questions accurately on both claims and you'll be fine. The system is designed to handle these situations, even if it's not very user-friendly about explaining it.

I went through something very similar when I had emergency appendix surgery while on unemployment last summer. The key thing that helped me was keeping detailed records of everything - dates of surgery, doctor's notes, when I filed each claim, etc. One thing to watch out for: when you're recovering and file your weekly UI claim saying you weren't able to work, make sure you also note the specific reason (medical recovery) in any comment sections. This helps ESD's system flag it properly for coordination with your PFML claim. Also, don't be surprised if there's a delay between when your medical leave gets approved and when the payments actually coordinate properly. Mine took about 3 weeks to sort out, but I eventually got all the benefits I was entitled to. The most important thing is just to keep filing both claims consistently and honestly!