Do I need to report Instacart gig work to ESD or does Instacart report automatically?

You ALWAYS need to report ANY earnings when filing your weekly claim, regardless of whether the company reports it or not. Instacart considers you an independent contractor, not an employee, so they're not reporting your wages to ESD the way a traditional employer would. You must report all gross earnings (before expenses) for the week you performed the work, not when you get paid.

omg be super careful with this!! my friend did doordash while on UI and didnt report it properly and got hit with a massive overpayment notice like 6 months later. huge headache for her

To answer your follow-up question about deductions - you need to report your GROSS earnings before any expenses or deductions. ESD doesn't care about your expenses, they want to know the total amount earned. So if Instacart pays you $250, you report $250, even if you spent $50 on gas. This is different from how you'd handle it for tax purposes. Also, remember that you need to report your work hours too, not just earnings. If you work enough hours, you might get partially reduced benefits or no benefits that week, depending on your weekly benefit amount.

Instacart doesn't report anything to unemployment. I do it too and I just report my earnings each week on my claim. You have to do it yourself.

Actually, it's a bit more complicated with gig work. Instacart technically DOES report your income to the IRS (you'll get a 1099 if you make over $600), and ESD can access tax records during audits. So even though they don't directly report to ESD weekly like a W-2 employer, they DO create a record of your income that ESD can potentially find during an audit or wage investigation. This is why it's so important to accurately report everything yourself on weekly claims. If there's ever a discrepancy between what you reported and what shows up on tax documents, ESD will likely find it eventually and issue an overpayment notice with potential penalties. Not worth the risk!

Has anyone actually been able to get through to ESD to ask questions like this? I've been trying to call them about a similar issue for THREE WEEKS and can't get past the automated system. So frustrating!

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! I'll definitely be reporting all my Instacart earnings each week when I do my UI claim. Better safe than sorry, especially after hearing about that overpayment nightmare. I appreciate all the advice!