ESD disqualified me for nonexistent policy violations - appeal advice needed urgently

You're in a tough spot, but there are some steps you can take. First, your appeal packet should contain the evidence ESD used to make their determination, including which specific policies they believe you violated. If you haven't received it yet, it should arrive before your hearing date. For your appeal, you'll need to focus on two key arguments: 1) The policies didn't exist when you worked there, and 2) Your employer created these policies retroactively as retaliation for filing unemployment. Both of these are strong arguments. Make sure you have documentation showing when these policies were created. Emails, timestamps on documents, anything that shows they came after your termination date. Also gather any performance reviews or feedback that shows you were meeting expectations while employed.

THE SAME EXACT THING happened to me last year!! My supervisor hated me and made up some BS about me violating attendance policy, but I had doctor's notes for EVERYTHING. ESD didn't care and denied me anyway. The whole system is RIGGED to favor employers. I appealed and STILL lost even with perfect evidence!!! Make sure you document EVERYTHING. And be prepared for them to side with your employer anyway because that's what they ALWAYS do. The appeal judges are just as bad!!

have you tried going to the WorkSource office in person? sometimes they can help u get better info than just calling. my cousin did that and got more specific details about his case.

I successfully appealed a misconduct disqualification last year, though my situation was slightly different. Here's what helped me win: 1. The appeal packet should arrive 1-2 weeks before your hearing and will contain all evidence ESD used to make their determination. 2. Focus on preparing a clear timeline showing: when you were fired, when you filed for unemployment, when the policies appeared, and how you know the dates (metadata, etc). 3. During your hearing, be professional and stick to facts. The judge will ask questions - answer directly without rambling. 4. If your employer created policies after firing you, that's very compelling evidence of retaliation. 5. Request all communication between ESD and your employer through a public records request if needed. I spent hours trying to reach ESD before my hearing with no luck. After wasting days with busy signals and disconnections, I found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an agent in under 30 minutes. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 that shows how it works. It was worth it to finally get answers before my hearing.

i got disqualified once too but it was cuz i quit not fired. anyway good luck with your case sounds like ur boss is a real jerk

Make sure you bring these specific items to your appeal hearing: 1. A written timeline of events (termination date, unemployment filing date, when policies appeared) 2. Any communications from your employer about why you were terminated 3. The policy documents with metadata showing creation dates 4. Any positive performance reviews or feedback 5. Documentation showing you were still in probationary period One critical point in your favor: Under Washington unemployment law, an employer must prove misconduct by a preponderance of evidence. Policies created after termination cannot logically be used to establish misconduct that occurred before they existed. This is a straightforward legal argument. If your hearing is scheduled soon, you might want to submit a pre-hearing brief outlining these factual discrepancies. Most people don't do this, but it can help frame the issues for the judge.

To answer your follow-up question - appeal packets typically arrive 10-14 business days after filing your appeal. If it's been 9 days, you should receive it very soon. And yes, statements from former coworkers can be valuable, especially if they can confirm these policies didn't exist during your employment. Just make sure their statements are specific and factual rather than just character references.

Update: I finally got through to someone at ESD today! After trying for what felt like forever, I used that Claimyr service that @practical_solution mentioned and actually got connected to an agent in about 20 minutes. The agent confirmed that my former employer specifically cited a "communication protocol policy" that I supposedly violated, but she checked the dates and acknowledged this policy wasn't in their original response! She's adding notes to my case file about this discrepancy before my hearing. My appeal packet should arrive by next Wednesday, and my hearing is scheduled for June 2nd. I'm feeling much more prepared now. Thank you all for the amazing advice - especially about the timeline documentation and focusing on when the policies were actually created. I'll update after my hearing!

my friend had a similar thing happen and she won her appeal but it took like 2 months to get the decision after the hearing so just be ready to wait even after ur hearing