ESD claim handling for 2-week temporary full-time work - suspend or continue filing?
I've been on unemployment for about 5 weeks now, but I just got offered temporary full-time work starting this week (week ending yesterday) and continuing through next week. I'm not sure what happens after that - the employer was vague about whether they'll keep me on. Since I'll be working full-time hours for these two weeks, my benefit payment will be $0 for both weeks. My question is: Should I just stop filing my weekly claims during these two working weeks and then reopen a new claim if the work ends after that? Or should I keep filing my weekly claims and just report all my earnings (which would result in $0 payment)? I'm worried about messing something up and either losing my claim entirely or getting hit with an overpayment notice. Anyone dealt with temporary work while on unemployment?
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William Rivera
DON'T stop filing! Keep submitting your weekly claims and report all earnings accurately. If you stop filing, your claim becomes inactive after 4 weeks of no claims. Then you'd have to reactivate it, which can cause delays. By continuing to file and reporting your full-time wages, your claim stays active but you just receive $0 for those weeks. This makes it much smoother when your temp work ends - you just keep filing as normal but report fewer or no hours, and payments resume automatically.
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Kayla Jacobson
•Thanks for the quick response! So even though I'll get $0 for these two weeks, keeping my claim active is better than having to reactivate later? Makes sense - I was just worried about doing something wrong. And I still need to report ALL my hours worked, right? Even though it'll be like 40 hours each week?
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Grace Lee
i did this exact thing last summer!! worked 3 weeks full time, reported all my hours on my weekly claim (got $0 those weeks obvs) then when the job ended i just kept filing normally. ESD never even contacted me about it. super easy
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Kayla Jacobson
•That's reassuring to hear! So you didn't have any problems when your payments resumed? I'm just nervous about the system flagging something weird when I go from collecting to not collecting and then back again.
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Mia Roberts
As others have mentioned, you should definitely continue filing your weekly claims. Here's how to handle it properly: 1. File your weekly claim as usual 2. Report ALL hours worked and ALL earnings (before taxes) 3. Answer "yes" to the question about working full-time 4. Your benefit will adjust to $0 automatically 5. Continue doing this each week you work full-time 6. When your work reduces or ends, continue filing but report the reduced hours This is explicitly covered in ESD guidelines as the correct procedure for temporary work. Your claim remains open for 52 weeks from the initial filing date (your benefit year), though you can only receive your maximum benefit amount during that period.
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The Boss
•This is the EXACT advice I needed last year! I stopped filing during a 3-week temp job and had to wait almost 2 weeks for my claim to reactivate after the job ended. Meanwhile bills kept coming! The ESD system is so confusing sometimes.
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Evan Kalinowski
You should ABSOLUTELY continue filing your weekly claims!!! I made the mistake of stopping my claims during a 2-week temp job. When I tried to restart, I had to verify my identity AGAIN, proving I had job searched AGAIN, and it took FOREVER to get payments restarted. The system even flagged me for a fact-finding interview because of the gap!!!! Keep filing and just report all your hours. Trust me on this one.
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Kayla Jacobson
•Oh wow, that sounds like a nightmare! I definitely don't want to deal with all that. I'll keep filing and report all my hours/earnings. Thanks for sharing your experience - you saved me from making the same mistake!
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Victoria Charity
when you file make sure you answer YES to the question about if you worked full time. thats super important. i forgot once and got in trouble lol
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Kayla Jacobson
•Thanks for the heads up! I'll definitely make sure to answer YES to the full-time work question. I definitely don't want to get flagged for a mistake!
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Jasmine Quinn
Has anyone here used Claimyr to get through to ESD? I had a similar situation last month with temp work and had questions that weren't covered in the FAQ. Spent days trying to reach someone at ESD with no luck. Then I found this service at claimyr.com that got me connected to an ESD agent in about 20 minutes! They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3. Honestly wish I'd known about it sooner.
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Grace Lee
•i never heard of this but might try it next time! spent like 3 hrs on hold last month before giving up
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Kayla Jacobson
Update: I called ESD this morning and finally got through after trying for 2 hours. The agent confirmed what everyone here said - I should keep filing weekly claims during the temporary work and report all earnings. She said my claim will stay active, I'll just get $0 for the weeks I work full-time, and then payments will resume automatically if/when my hours decrease again. Thanks everyone for your help!
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Mia Roberts
•Glad you got confirmation! One more tip: keep track of all your hours and pay stubs for these temporary weeks. If there's ever a question later about these weeks, having documentation ready will make resolving it much faster.
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Lily Young
This is such helpful advice! I'm in a similar situation where I might get some temporary work soon and was completely unsure about the process. Reading through all these responses, it's clear that continuing to file weekly claims is the way to go. I had no idea that stopping claims could cause so many issues with reactivation. Really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences - it's so much more helpful than trying to navigate the ESD website alone!
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