ESD claim suddenly shows 'disqualified' but decision says 'in my favor' - what's happening?

omg the EXACT same thing happened to me last month!! so confusing right?? mine said disqualified but then the letter said favorable too. i freaked out for like 3 days but then suddenly all my weeks switched to paid. it was some weird glitch in their system

This situation happens specifically with backdated claims. What's happening is that the system automatically marks weeks as disqualified when they're outside your initial claim period, but then the backdating approval overrides that. The confusing part is that their system updates in stages - first the decision letter appears, then the disqualification notices, and finally the payment processing happens. Watch your claim status over the next 3-5 business days. The weeks should switch from 'disqualified' to 'processing' and then to 'paid'. If they don't change status by next week, you'll need to contact ESD directly to ensure the backdate approval is correctly applied to your payment system.

The ESD computer system is THE WORST!!! This happened to me twice during my claim period. Everything would look normal then suddenly BOOM - disqualified notices everywhere! Then magically fixed itself a week later. No explanation, no apology, nothing. Just typical government incompetence. Don't expect any logic or common sense from ESD.

I went through this exact situation in March. The key is understanding that the "decision in your favor" regarding backdating supersedes the disqualification notices. Here's what's happening: 1. Your claim was initially set to start on a specific date 2. Something triggered a backdate review (either you requested it or they determined eligibility for earlier weeks) 3. The adjudicator approved backdating your claim (the "decision in your favor") 4. The system is now processing those weeks, but there's a lag between approval and payment In my experience, it took about 4 business days after seeing this conflicting status before my payments processed. The good news is that backdated claims that are approved typically process all at once, so you should receive all weeks of payment together once it completes. If you don't see a status change by next Friday, I'd recommend trying to contact ESD directly. You might want to try using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through - they have a service that helps you reach an ESD agent without the endless busy signals. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 that shows how it works. I used them when I had this same backdating issue and got through in about 20 minutes instead of days of calling.

hey quick question sorta related to this - does backdating affect your benefit year end date? like if they backdate your claim 6 weeks does your BYE get pushed 6 weeks earlier too? still trying to figure out all these unemployment rules

Just checking back - has your claim status changed yet? The average processing time for backdated approvals is 3-5 business days, but with current workloads, I've seen it take up to 7-8 business days for the payment to process.

My sister works for ESD (not supposed to tell people that lol) and she says the system is super old and does things in weird orders sometimes. Like it'll show disqualified when they actually mean pending review or something. I don't really get it but she says most of the time if you have a decision letter that says favorable you're good even if the website looks messed up.

UPDATE: All six weeks just changed to PAID!!!! The money isn't in my account yet but the status finally changed! Thank you all so much for your help and reassurance. I was seriously about to have a breakdown thinking I wasn't going to get anything after waiting almost 2 months. For anyone else who sees this thread with the same issue - just be patient, the system really does take a few days to update everything after you get that weird "disqualified but favorable decision" status.

Congratulations on getting it resolved! This is such a perfect example of why this community is so valuable - your experience will definitely help the next person who runs into this confusing "disqualified but favorable" status. The ESD system really needs better messaging to explain what's happening during these processing stages instead of showing contradictory information that sends people into panic mode. Enjoy that well-deserved payment!