ESD weekly claim confusion - do I need to claim for weeks I worked 40+ hours?

You should always file your weekly claim, even for weeks you work full-time. When you file the claim, you'll report your hours worked (43) and earnings, and ESD will automatically determine you're not eligible for benefits that week because you worked too many hours. But filing keeps your claim active. If you skip filing for a week, the system will need you to catch up on all missed weeks before you can claim for the current week.

i did the same thing last month lol. skipped filing when i worked 45 hrs then got confused when i tried to file next week. you gotta file every week no matter what or the system gets mad

This is one of the most common misunderstandings about unemployment claims. To maintain an active claim, you must file weekly claims regardless of how many hours you work. When you report 40+ hours, the system will automatically determine you earned too much for benefits that week, but your claim remains active. For your 23-hour week, you'll likely receive partial benefits depending on your earnings. If you don't file weekly claims consistently, your claim can become inactive after two missed weeks, requiring you to reopen your claim - which creates delays in payment and potential issues with your claim status.

I've been dealing with the ESD system for months now and here's my experience: You absolutely MUST file every single week regardless of hours worked. When I worked 50+ hours for two weeks in February, I still filed and reported those hours. The system showed $0 benefits those weeks (as expected) but kept my claim active. For your 23-hour week, you'll probably get partial benefits based on your earnings. The system has a formula where they deduct a percentage of your earnings from your weekly benefit amount. If you made less than your weekly benefit amount, you'll get the difference. I've been trying to reach an ESD agent to get clarity on some other issues with my claim for the past week with no luck - phones are constantly busy and disconnecting.

ESD'S SYSTEM IS RIDICULOUS!!! How are regular people supposed to know these stupid rules?? The website doesn't explain ANY of this clearly!! I made the EXACT same mistake last year and ended up having to REAPPLY and lost WEEKS of benefits because no one told me I had to file claims for weeks I didn't even qualify for!!! WHY would anyone think they need to file a claim when they know they won't get paid?? It's ABSURD!!!

To clarify about your 23-hour week: Since you worked part-time, you'll need to report your hours and earnings accurately. If your earnings that week were less than your weekly benefit amount, you'll receive partial unemployment benefits. The first 25% of your earnings are disregarded (this is called the "earnings disregard"), and then for every dollar you earn above that, your weekly benefit is reduced by a dollar. For example, if your weekly benefit amount is $500 and you earned $300 that week: - $300 x 25% = $75 (disregarded earnings) - $300 - $75 = $225 (countable earnings) - $500 - $225 = $275 (partial benefit payment) So in this example, you would receive $275 for your 23-hour week.

btw if ur wondering why the system works this way... its cuz lots of ppl have variable hours week to week so ESD needs to know every week whats going on with ur work situation. my roomate works in construction and some weeks hes full time some weeks hes nothing depending on projects