Do you get back pay for unemployment benefits in Washington ESD?

Yes, you should get back pay automatically! Washington ESD will process all your approved weekly claims from when you first filed. It usually takes 3-5 business days after approval for the back payments to hit your account. Make sure you filed for every week during adjudication - if you missed any weeks you might need to request those separately.

The back pay comes automatically but there are some things to watch for. If any of your weekly claims during adjudication had issues (like reporting work hours incorrectly), those specific weeks might get held up even after your main claim is approved. Also, if you had any waiting week requirements, that affects your first payable week.

If you're having trouble getting through to Washington ESD to check on your back pay status, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually gets you connected to ESD agents. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ showing how it works. Saved me hours of calling and getting busy signals when I needed to verify my retroactive payments were processing correctly.

be careful about spending that back pay right away!! i got mine and spent it all thinking i was good, then ESD sent me an overpayment notice 2 months later saying i owed money back. turns out there was some issue with my work search requirements during one of those weeks

The back pay should definitely come through automatically. I went through the same thing earlier this year - 4 weeks in adjudication hell, then boom, all the money showed up in my checking account at once. Just make sure your direct deposit info is correct in your ESD account or you'll be waiting even longer for paper checks.

Don't count your chickens before they hatch. I know someone who thought they were getting back pay and it turned out their employer appealed the decision. Had to go through a whole hearing process and ended up owing money back to ESD.

I'm dealing with something similar but my claim has been in adjudication for 8 weeks now! Still filing weekly but getting really desperate. Did you do anything special to get yours moving or did it just finally get processed?

YES you get back pay! But seriously, Washington ESD's system is so broken. Six weeks in adjudication is insane for what should be a simple approval process. The fact that we even have to ask these questions shows how poorly they communicate with claimants.

Make sure to keep track of exactly how much back pay you receive and compare it to what you calculated you should get. Sometimes there are deductions you weren't expecting (like union dues or taxes) that make the amount look wrong even when it's correct.

The back pay comes but sometimes in weird chunks. Like I got 3 weeks worth, then 2 weeks, then the final week a few days later. Don't panic if it doesn't all come at once - just give it a full week to sort itself out.

If you don't see the back pay within a week of approval, that's when you need to call ESD. Sometimes there are technical glitches that prevent the automatic processing. I had to call and they manually released my back payments after some kind of system error.

Just wanted to add that if you had any partial weeks (like if you were laid off mid-week), those calculations can be tricky for back pay. Make sure ESD calculated those weeks correctly because they sometimes mess up the partial week payments.

Congrats on getting approved! The relief when that adjudication finally ends is incredible. Your back pay should definitely come through automatically - just keep an eye on your account over the next few days.

Awesome news that it got approved! I went through something similar last year - 7 weeks in adjudication and was panicking about money the whole time. The back pay does come automatically, usually within 3-5 business days like others mentioned. One thing I learned though is to screenshot your weekly claim summaries showing all those weeks you filed during adjudication, just in case there's ever a question later about what you're owed. The system usually works correctly but having that backup documentation gave me peace of mind. Hope you get your money soon!