ESD excess earnings rule confusion - DoorDash income vs $800 weekly benefit amount

The excess earnings rule is confusing but here's how it works: Washington uses a formula where they deduct 75% of your earnings from your weekly benefit amount. So if your WBA is $800 and you earn $400 from DoorDash, the calculation would be: $800 - (75% of $400) = $800 - $300 = $500. You'd receive $500 in unemployment for that week, not zero. Something doesn't sound right about your situation. Are you sure you're reporting your gross earnings correctly? Remember DoorDash earnings need to be reported BEFORE expenses.

THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO DENY YOU BENEFITS!!!! I went through the same thing last year when I was doing Uber. You have to report GROSS earnings not NET. They don't care about your expenses at all, which is totally unfair for gig workers. We burn through gas and put wear on our cars but ESD treats it like regular wages. The system is rigged against us self-employed people.

This is a very common misunderstanding with UI benefits. For self-employment/independent contractor work like DoorDash, you must report your gross earnings (before expenses) for the week you performed the work, not when you got paid. The formula is: Weekly Benefit Amount - (0.75 × Gross Earnings) = Partial UI Payment. If this calculation results in less than $1, you won't receive benefits for that week. So with your $800 WBA, you could actually earn up to about $1,065 in gross income before being completely disqualified for that week (because $800 - (0.75 × $1,065) would approach zero).

I made this exact mistake when i was on unemployment in 2024!! reported my doordash earnings after expenses and got hit with an overpayment notice 2 months later for like $2900. had to setup a payment plan and everything. def call esd to fix this asap before they come after you later.

yep they added some kind of interest penalty thing. not huge but still annoying when it wasnt my fault their instructions are so confusing!

If you need to reach ESD quickly to fix this, try using Claimyr (claimyr.com). I was in a similar situation with incorrect reporting and couldn't get through for weeks. Claimyr got me connected to an actual ESD agent in about 25 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3. It was worth it to get this sorted out before it turned into a bigger problem with overpayments and penalties.

So I worked out the math based on what they're saying - with an $800 WBA, here's what you'd actually get if you report correctly: - $200 DoorDash earnings = $650 UI payment ($800 - 75% of $200) - $400 DoorDash earnings = $500 UI payment ($800 - 75% of $400) - $600 DoorDash earnings = $350 UI payment ($800 - 75% of $600) - $1000 DoorDash earnings = $50 UI payment ($800 - 75% of $1000) - $1067 or more = $0 UI payment (excess earnings) So yeah if you've been subtracting expenses before reporting, you've been shorting yourself benefits!

i think ur supposed to report the week you WORKED not when u got paid too. doordash pays on different schedule than when u actually did the deliveries right? that messed me up before

Update: I finally got through to ESD today! The agent confirmed everything you all said about reporting gross earnings before expenses. They're having me submit corrected weekly claims for the past 4 weeks. The good news is I'll actually be getting MORE money than I thought once this is fixed, since I was over-reporting my earnings by deducting expenses first. Thanks everyone for your help understanding this confusing system!