Disqualified from ESD unemployment after termination during layoff period - what happened?

Unfortunately, the reason for your disqualification is likely because your employer changed your separation reason from 'laid off' (which is generally qualifying) to 'terminated for cause' (which is often disqualifying). ESD considers your most recent separation reason as the determining factor. If your employer provided evidence you were violating company policy by doing side work during layoff, that could be considered misconduct, which disqualifies you from benefits. You should immediately file an appeal if you believe the termination wasn't justified.

did u report ALL ur side work correctly on ur weekly claims?? that matters ALOT. if u reported everything correctly but still got disqualified then its probably cuz of the termination reason. but if u missed reporting even one payment they could call that fraud :

THE EXACT SAME THING happened to me last year!!! I was laid off, then my boss found out I was helping my brother's business part-time and FIRED me two weeks later. My unemployment got DENIED and I had to pay back $2,400!!!! I tried to appeal but ESD doesn't care that I was honest about my earnings. They only care that my "official separation reason" changed from layoff to termination. The system is RIGGED against workers!!!!

You need to file an appeal right away. You only have 30 days from the date of the disqualification notice. The appeal process lets you have a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge where you can explain your situation. What matters legally is whether your side work violated a known company policy and if that violation was serious enough to constitute misconduct. If you weren't aware of any policy prohibiting side work during layoffs, that's important to emphasize. In the meantime, keep filing your weekly claims even though you're disqualified. If you win your appeal, they'll pay you for those weeks retroactively.

Try calling ESD directly to ask for clarification on your disqualification. Sometimes there are specific details in your file that only they can see. They might be able to tell you exactly what rule they applied in your case. Good luck getting through though - I spent 3 weeks trying to reach someone about my claim issues.

The legal distinction here is important. Under Washington unemployment law, if you were terminated for "misconduct" you can be disqualified from benefits, even if the initial separation was a layoff. The key for your appeal will be proving either: 1) You didn't violate any known company policy by doing side work during layoff, OR 2) Even if there was a policy, your violation wasn't serious enough to constitute "misconduct" under unemployment law Misconduct has a specific legal definition for unemployment purposes that's often more narrow than what employers think. Simple poor judgment or minor policy violations often don't rise to the level of disqualifying misconduct.

I just checked all my paperwork and found something interesting. My layoff letter specifically says "temporary layoff due to seasonal work shortage" and mentions an expected recall date in April. It doesn't say anything about restrictions during the layoff period. Would this help my case? I'm definitely going to appeal now.