ESD payments stuck in 'pending' status for weeks - impossible to reach anyone!

OMG yes!!! The EXACT same thing happened to my sister! She had 5 weeks of payments stuck in pending from January to March. ESD is completely overwhelmed right now because of all the tech layoffs in Seattle. She eventually got through after using Claimyr (claimyr.com) - it's a service that holds your place in line and calls you back when an ESD agent is available. She showed me the video of how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 It saved her sanity after trying for weeks on her own. Her pending payments were finally released after she talked to someone.

the pending status usually means they needs to verify something. my claim was stuck for 3 weeks and turned out they just needed to verify my identity but never sent me a alert about it. check his eservices account and see if theres any alerts or messages he needs to respond too. sometimes they hide them in weird places

This is a very common issue right now. ESD has a massive backlog of claims requiring adjudication - which means a specialist needs to review something in the claim. The problem is that their system often doesn't tell you WHAT needs reviewing. Your husband should: 1. Check his "Notices/Letters" section in eServices - sometimes adjudication notices are there but don't appear as alerts 2. Look for any fact-finding questionnaires he might need to complete 3. Check if there's an "able and available" issue or "job search" issue flagged anywhere 4. Verify his identity hasn't been flagged for verification (this is causing many delays) If he can't find anything, he absolutely needs to speak with an agent. Unfortunately, the phone lines are overwhelmed. The best times to call are Tuesday-Thursday between 7:00-7:30am right when they open or after 4:00pm when call volume drops slightly.

Im havin THE SAME PROBLEM!!! been calling for 3 weeks straght. cant get through AT ALL. At this point im pretty sure theyre doing it on purpose to save money by making it impossible to reach them. My claim says "pending - adjudication in progress" but theres no reason given anywere. If you figure out how to get through PLEASE let me know!!!!

The ESD system is completely broken. When COVID hit, they scrambled to hire untrained staff who don't understand their own rules, and they've never recovered. Here's the REAL way things work now: 1. They auto-flag a huge percentage of claims for "adjudication" to prevent fraud 2. These flags require manual review, but they're severely understaffed 3. Your claim sits in purgatory until someone reviews it 4. They NEVER notify you about what's being adjudicated 5. Getting through the phone system is DELIBERATELY difficult I waited 9 weeks last year before I finally reached someone. The adjudicator told me they were reviewing whether I was "able and available" for work even though I had answered YES to that question every week. Total waste of time, but they finally released all my payments at once. They make repayment collection a priority because it's money coming IN to the agency. Paying benefits is money going OUT, so guess which one they prioritize?

I had a similar issue for 7 weeks last month. What worked for me was contacting my state representative. I filled out the contact form on my district rep's website explaining the situation and how I couldn't get through to ESD. Within 3 days, their office contacted ESD on my behalf, and within a week my payments were released. This seems to be the backdoor method when normal channels fail. Worth trying!

has your husband checked if there is a hold on his claim for the job search requirements? my boyfriend had the same situation and it turned out he didnt upload enough job search activities. you need 3 EVERY week now and they are super strict about it. might be worth double checking all his weeks

Based on everything you've described, this sounds like what's called an "adjudication hold" without proper notification. Some claims get randomly selected for additional verification, and yours might be one of them. Unfortunately, the only real solution is making contact with an ESD claims specialist. I'd recommend a multi-pronged approach: 1. Continue attempting to call ESD directly 2. Contact your state representative as suggested above 3. Send a secure message through the eServices portal (they're supposed to respond within 5-7 business days) 4. If your husband's employer has an HR department, ask if they can help by verifying any information ESD might need For the phone approach, try calling the main line at exactly 7:00am, and if that doesn't work, try around 4:30pm. Some people have had success with the technical support line and then asking to be transferred to claims. Once he gets through, make sure to request retroactive payment for all weeks in pending status. They should process everything at once once the hold is lifted.

Just wanted to follow up - did your husband have any luck with the state rep approach? My sister used Claimyr (the service I mentioned before) because she tried calling for weeks and couldn't get through. The regular phone method just seems impossible right now with how backed up ESD is. Whatever works though! I hope he gets his money soon.