Does employer non-response to ESD claim guarantee approval?

It's not exactly an 'automatic win' but it definitely helps your case. If your employer doesn't respond within the timeframe ESD gives them (usually 10 business days), ESD typically has to make a determination based only on the information you provided. This often results in approval since there's no contradicting information from the employer side. However, your employer can still contest it later and potentially create an overpayment situation if they eventually respond with information that would have disqualified you.

my boss never responded to my claim last summer and i got approved after like 3 weeks. just keep doing ur weekly claims while u wait!!

DO NOT COUNT ON THIS!! My employer didn't respond for 5 weeks then suddenly sent in paperwork saying I quit voluntarily when I was ACTUALLY LAID OFF! ESD immediately put my claim in adjudication and FROZE MY PAYMENTS for 7 MORE WEEKS!! Had to fight with them and prove I was laid off. The system is RIGGED against workers and totally favors employers who can take their sweet time responding!!

While employer non-response does make approval more likely, it's important to understand this isn't guaranteed. ESD adjudicators still review the information you provided about your separation. If you indicated you were fired, they'll investigate the circumstances regardless of employer input. If laid off due to lack of work, that's generally qualifying without much question. Make sure your job separation reason is accurate and consistent in all your communications with ESD. Also, continue your job search activities (minimum 3 per week) and document them carefully while you wait for a determination. Many claims are getting stuck in adjudication for 4-6 weeks in 2025 so far.

My cousin works for ESD and she always says that most employers don't bother responding to the initial ESD requests, especially for smaller companies. Something about how time-consuming the paperwork is? But yeah sounds like you might get lucky.

Had the exact same issue last month with my claim. Called ESD every day for two weeks and kept getting the "high call volume" message before being disconnected. So frustrating! I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) which got me connected to an ESD agent in about 20 minutes. They explained that my employer hadn't responded within the deadline and that my claim was going to be processed based on my information alone. You can check out their video to see how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3. Definitely worth it when you're stressing about rent!

Just to follow up: if your claim gets approved without employer input, keep documentation of your layoff handy for at least a year. Employers have up to that long to appeal in some cases, though most appeals happen within the first few months. If they eventually contest it successfully, you might face an overpayment notice, which can be challenging to deal with. That said, if you were truly laid off due to restructuring, you should be eligible regardless of whether your employer responds.

By the way, make sure you're properly documenting your job search activities each week! Even while waiting for initial claim approval, you need to be doing 3 job search activities weekly. ESD has been randomly auditing job search logs more frequently in 2025. My neighbor got disqualified for 4 weeks of benefits because he couldn't provide proper documentation when they audited him.

I went through this exact situation last year with my retail job. My employer missed the deadline by about 2 weeks, and ESD approved my claim based solely on my information. However, I'd recommend being extra careful about how you describe your separation - if there's any ambiguity between "layoff" and "termination for cause," ESD might still investigate even without employer input. Since you mentioned your boss was critical of your work before the restructuring, make sure you have that layoff documentation ready and emphasize the business reasons (restructuring/position elimination) rather than any performance issues. The good news is that most claims in this situation do get approved, especially if you were truthful about being laid off. Keep filing those weekly claims and stay patient - it took about 4 weeks total for mine to get approved back then.