ESD claim showing disqualified despite approval letter - will backpay process if employer misses deadline?

This is actually pretty common with ESD. The letter and online status can contradict each other because they're from different departments. What matters most is the official determination letter. If your employer doesn't respond by the deadline, your claim should process, but the system doesn't always update automatically. In my experience, you should wait 3-5 business days after the deadline, then if nothing changes, you'll need to contact ESD directly to have them manually review and release the payments.

I had EXACT same thing happen!!! My account said disqualified for 2 months but I got approved letter. Had to call ESD like 47 times before someone fixed it. They told me it was a 'system flag' that didn't clear automatically when my employer missed there deadline. KEEP CALLING!!

After dealing with this exact situation last month, I finally found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an ESD agent within 25 minutes when I'd been trying for weeks. They have a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3. It was worth it because the agent I spoke with immediately saw the disconnect between my approval letter and the online status. She manually removed the disqualification flag and released all my backpay that same day. Without talking to someone directly, these system glitches can just sit there indefinitely.

There's a few important technical points to understand here: 1. Approval letters are generated by the determinations unit 2. The online system status is updated by a different department 3. When an employer fails to respond by their deadline, your claim should be approved per RCW 50.20.160 4. HOWEVER, the system requires manual intervention to remove certain flags What's likely happening is you received a determination approving benefits, but there's still a system flag that needs to be manually cleared. After Sept 6th, you should call ESD directly and reference your approval letter (have the reference number ready). Ask them to check if there's a "determination implementation" issue or a "payment block" that needs clearing. This isn't uncommon but does require speaking with someone.

not to be negative nancy but my claim was like this for 3 months!!! just saying dont count on sept 6 fixing everything. esd is a mess right now

Make sure you keep filing your weekly claims even while showing disqualified!! I didn't do this when I had a similar situation and lost out on 3 weeks of benefits because they said I didn't certify during the disqualification period. Even though the system eventually said I was eligible, they wouldn't backdate the claims I missed filing.

Has anyone here had an employer that actually DID appeal before the deadline? What happens then? Just asking because my former employer is super vindictive and I wouldn't put it past them to appeal just to make my life harder.

Just to give you a timeline expectation - after your employer's deadline passes (Sept 6th), allow about 5-7 business days for internal processing. If nothing updates by September 15th, that's when you should really focus on reaching out to ESD. Their system has automatic processes that run weekly, but they don't always work correctly. The good news is that once someone manually reviews your claim with the approval letter, they can usually fix it immediately and release funds within 48 hours.

my cousin works for esd (not posting which office lol) and she says this happens ALL THE TIME. the computer system is from like 1985 or something ridiculous. she says the approval letter trumps the online status every time but you gotta call to get someone to manually fix it in the system.

UPDATE: I called ESD this morning (got through after 14 attempts) and spoke with a very helpful agent. She confirmed that my claim is APPROVED despite the online status showing disqualified. She manually removed the disqualification flag and said my backpay for the last 7 weeks should process within 48-72 hours! HUGE relief! Thanks everyone for your advice!