ESD sent overpayment notice because they changed my waiting week - do I really have to pay this back?

Same thing happened to me last month!! They changed my waiting week from the 1st week to the 2nd week of February and now want $765 back. The letter says something about 'administrative reconsideration' but doesn't explain why they changed it. So frustrating.

You absolutely can and should appeal this. The key is going to be whether you received proper notification about which week was designated as your waiting week when you first filed. If they approved benefits initially and are now changing their decision, you have grounds for appeal based on their original determination. You have 30 days from the date on the overpayment notice to file your appeal. Make sure to specifically mention in your appeal that you relied on their original determination and that this appears to be an administrative error on their part.

ESD IS THE WORST!!! They did the EXACT same thing to me in 2025 except it was for $1200!!! I filed an appeal and waited 4 MONTHS just to be denied. Their excuse was some technical BS about how the waiting week has to be a full week where you were eligible but not paid. They don't care that it was THEIR MISTAKE!

try calling early on tuesday morningss, thats when i finally got thru. but i waited 2 hours on hold and then they transfered me 2 times and i got disconnected. so frustrating

I recently had a similar issue with ESD changing my initial determinations and struggled for weeks to get anyone on the phone. I finally found a service called Claimyr that got me connected to an ESD agent in about 20 minutes instead of spending days trying to get through. I was skeptical but it actually worked - they have a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3. I was able to explain my situation to the agent and got my overpayment reviewed. Still waiting on the final decision, but at least I got to speak with someone who could help.

The waiting week issue is actually quite common right now. Here's what's happening: ESD updated their system in February 2025, and it's retroactively applying a stricter interpretation of the waiting week eligibility rules. Under current regulations, your waiting week must be a complete week where you: 1. Were fully eligible for benefits 2. Filed a claim certification 3. Met all job search requirements 4. Did not have any earnings or hour reductions that would affect eligibility If any of these conditions weren't met in what was initially designated as your waiting week, the system is automatically reassigning your waiting week to the next eligible week, which creates an overpayment for one week of benefits. You have three options: 1. Pay the overpayment 2. Request a payment plan 3. Appeal within 30 days and request a waiver of the overpayment based on "equity and good conscience" since this was due to agency error If you appeal, be specific about how you relied on their initial determination and how repayment would cause financial hardship.

Has anyone tried requesting a waiver? I saw something about 'equity and good conscience' waivers on their website but wasn't sure if those actually get approved.

UPDATE: I finally got through to ESD using that Claimyr service someone mentioned. The agent confirmed there was a system update that affected waiting week assignments. She put in a request to have my case reviewed by an adjudicator and put a temporary hold on the overpayment collection while they review it. She said I should still file a formal appeal through my online account to protect my appeal rights, but that many of these are being resolved through their internal review process. Fingers crossed!