ESD overpayment waiver from pandemic stuck for 2 years - who to contact besides useless overpayment center?

I got my waiver approved after about 8 months, but that was back in 2022. Two years is definitely excessive even for ESD standards. Have you tried contacting your state representative's office? They often have liaisons who can cut through the bureaucracy and get answers from ESD when regular channels fail. That's what finally worked for me when my regular UI claim was stuck in adjudication for months.

THEY ARE PURPOSELY DELAYING!!!! The longer they wait the more people just give up and pay! I waited 18 months for mine and guess what? DENIED even though I qualified under their OWN GUIDELINES!!!! The whole system is corrupt!!! Appeal immediately and demand a hearing with OAH - at least that way you get in front of a judge who isn't an ESD employee!!!

same boat here waiting 14 months for waiver decision... its ridiculous they expect us to just sit around forever with this hanging over us

Have you tried using Claimyr to get through to an actual ESD agent? I was in a similar situation with a pandemic overpayment waiver that was stuck for over a year. Regular calls got me nowhere, but I used Claimyr (claimyr.com) and they got me connected to an actual claims specialist who was able to flag my waiver for review. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 that shows how it works. It was seriously worth it to finally get someone who could actually look at my file and tell me what was happening instead of the generic "it's pending" response.

When you call the overpayment center, are you just speaking with the first person who answers or are you asking to speak with a supervisor? The frontline staff often can't do much, but a supervisor sometimes has more authority to look into why something is stalled. Also, document EVERYTHING - date/time of calls, who you spoke with, what they said. This will be helpful if you need to escalate further.

lol gud luck i gave up and jst started a payment plan... $25 a month for next 30 years or watever... not worth the stress fightin them

To answer your earlier question - yes, I just called my state rep's office directly and explained the situation. They had me fill out a form authorizing them to inquire about my case, and within 3 weeks I had a response from ESD. Their constituent services staff deal with these issues all the time. Doesn't matter which county you're in - just look up who represents your district in Olympia.

I had a similar issue last year, but mine was with regular UI benefits not pandemic ones. But anyway, I wrote a physical letter to the ESD Commissioner's Office explaining the situation and how long I'd been waiting. Surprisingly, I got a call about 2 weeks later from someone in their office who looked into my case. Maybe worth a try?

Something to be aware of - there are different types of pandemic overpayment waivers with different processing timelines. PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance) waivers are handled differently than regular UI waivers, even from the pandemic period. Also, if your waiver involves identity verification issues or potential fraud flags (even if you didn't do anything wrong), those take much longer to process. Do you know which type of benefits your overpayment is related to and if there were any special circumstances flagged on your account?

Based on your responses, I'd recommend taking multiple actions simultaneously: 1) Contact your state representative as suggested above, 2) Try Claimyr to get through to an actual specialist who can look at your file, 3) Send a formal written inquiry to the Commissioner's Office, and 4) Request an official status update in writing through your eServices account. Taking all these steps increases your chances of getting someone's attention. Two years is entirely too long to wait for a decision.