ESD claim shows 'Paid $0' for weekly claim but husband received payment - what's wrong?

Check if you have any 'Issues and Decisions' listed on your account. When mine showed $0 paid, it was because they were verifying my identity (even though the status still said 'paid'). Also make sure you don't have any alerts in your eServices message center - sometimes they hold payments without clearly explaining why.

this happened to me last year!! turns out i had checked the wrong box about being 'able and available' for work that week because i had a doctors appointment. check your weekly claim answers carefully, sometimes ONE wrong answer can make your benefit $0 for that week.

This is likely due to one of three things: 1. Benefit Year End (BYE) issue - check if you've reached the end of your benefit year, as this would cause a $0 payment while they recalculate eligibility 2. Waiting Week - If this is your first claim, the first week is a waiting week with $0 payment (but your husband may have filed earlier) 3. Earnings Deduction - Did you report any earnings that week? Sometimes even small amounts can temporarily reduce your benefit to $0 If none of these apply, it could be a system glitch. I recommend checking your Monetary Determination letter to verify your weekly benefit amount is correct.

The EXACT same thing happened to me in January!!! I panicked for days thinking I did something wrong. Turns out ESD was actually processing a small overpayment from 2 weeks prior that I didn't even know about!! Check if your previous payments were exactly correct - they might be silently adjusting something. If you already received 2 normal payments, this could be an adjustment week.

my cousin works at the unemployment office and says their system has been having MAJOR glitches since they did the update in December... lots of $0 payments showing up incorrectly. sometimes the money appears in your account anyway even when it shows $0! have you checked your actual bank account?

After dealing with ESD for months last year, I finally discovered Claimyr (claimyr.com) for getting through to ESD agents quickly. When my claim showed similar issues with $0 payments despite being approved, I couldn't get answers for weeks until I used their service. They got me connected to an ESD agent in about 20 minutes who fixed the issue right away. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 In my case, it turned out there was a flag on my account that wasn't visible to me in the portal but was preventing payment.

My payment was delayed back in November too but for different reasons. Is it possible you have exhausted your benefits? Sometimes the system still shows "paid" but with $0 if you've reached your maximum benefit amount.

Have you checked if they activated the "Conditional Payment" program on your claim? This happens sometimes when they need to verify something but don't want to delay your payment. In that case, the next payment might show as $0 while they're making adjustments. Call the ESD claims center as early as possible in the morning (right when they open at 8:00 AM). That's usually the best time to get through. Ask specifically about the $0 payment and whether there are any hidden holds or issues with your claim that aren't showing up in your online portal.

Just following up - were you able to resolve this issue? For anyone else experiencing the "Paid $0" problem, there's also another possibility I didn't mention: if you have child support obligations, sometimes 100% of your benefit can be withheld for that purpose, resulting in a $0 payment that still shows as "Paid" since the system processed it correctly.

Glad you got it resolved! This is exactly why ESD's system is so frustrating - they can put holds on accounts without any visible notification to the claimant. It's ridiculous that you had to spend days worrying and trying to get through to them just to find out about a "verification hold" that wasn't displayed anywhere in your portal. For future reference, anytime your payment shows as "Paid $0" it's almost always some kind of behind-the-scenes hold or review, even when there's no indication of it online. Hopefully they'll improve their transparency in the future!

This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with something similar right now - my payment status shows "Paid $0" for this week but I can't figure out why. Reading through everyone's experiences, it sounds like there are so many hidden reasons this can happen that don't show up in the online portal. I'm going to try calling first thing tomorrow morning at 8 AM like Mason suggested, and also double-check if there might be an overpayment adjustment like Amelia mentioned. It's really frustrating that ESD's system doesn't give clear explanations when these issues occur. Thanks Sophia for sharing your experience and everyone else for all the troubleshooting tips!

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! My payment for this week shows "Paid $0" and I've been panicking thinking I did something wrong. After reading through all these responses, it sounds like there are so many hidden issues that can cause this - verification holds, overpayment adjustments, system glitches, etc. - and the worst part is ESD doesn't tell you what's actually happening! I'm definitely going to try calling right at 8 AM tomorrow like everyone suggested. It's really reassuring to know this is a common issue and usually gets resolved once you can actually talk to someone. Thanks for posting this question and for everyone sharing their experiences - it's helping me feel less stressed about the situation!

This is such a helpful thread! I just had this exact same issue happen to me last week - my payment showed "Paid $0" and I was completely panicking. After reading everyone's experiences here, I called ESD first thing Monday morning at 8 AM sharp and got through after about 45 minutes on hold. Turns out they had flagged my claim for a routine audit because I had reported working a few hours the week before, and their system wanted to verify that I had correctly calculated my earnings deduction. The agent cleared it immediately and my payment processed the next day. The most frustrating part was that there was absolutely no indication in my online account that there was any kind of review or hold - it just showed the confusing "Paid $0" status. For anyone dealing with this, definitely try calling right when they open and be persistent. Ask specifically if there are any holds, reviews, or flags on your account that aren't visible in the portal. It's ridiculous that they don't make these things transparent to claimants!

I went through this exact same nightmare back in October! My payment showed "Paid $0" for three weeks straight and I was losing my mind trying to figure out what was wrong. Turns out ESD had put a "quality control review" on my account because I had switched from part-time to full-time work search requirements, and their system flagged it as suspicious activity. There was literally ZERO indication of this review anywhere in my online account - no messages, no alerts, nothing. I only found out when I finally got through to an agent after calling for two weeks straight. The agent said these quality control reviews happen randomly and can take 2-3 weeks to complete, but they don't notify claimants because they don't want to "cause unnecessary worry." It's absolutely insane! Once the review was cleared, I got all my back payments within 48 hours. My advice: call every single day right at 8 AM and specifically ask if there are ANY reviews, audits, or quality control flags on your account, even if nothing shows up online. Don't let them brush you off - demand specifics about what might be causing the $0 payment!