Fired over text with no explanation - ESD claim stuck in adjudication for 4 weeks

ESD will eventually contact you for your side of the story during the adjudication process. They're required to investigate both sides when there's a termination involved. Your former employer will need to prove you were fired for misconduct, otherwise you'll likely qualify for benefits. The problem is adjudication is taking forever right now - I've seen cases taking 6-8 weeks to resolve.\n\nDid you receive any correspondence from ESD asking for your statement about the termination? Check your online account and your physical mail. They usually send a questionnaire for you to explain your side.

I haven't received anything yet asking for my side of the story. I check my eServices account daily and my physical mail. Should I be proactive and try to submit my version of events somehow, or just keep waiting?

omg the EXACT same thing happened to me with my boss last year!!! we were friends outside work then had a huge fight and she fired me by text!!! ESD took almost 2 MONTHS to finish adjuticating my claim and they never even told me what she said was the reason!! they just suddenly approved my benefits one day. the waiting is absolute torture. hang in there!!!!!

wow thats crazy they took 2 months!! i thought mine was bad at 5 weeks. the system is so broken

In these situations, here's what's happening behind the scenes:\n\n1. ESD has contacted your employer for their side of the story\n2. Your employer has 10 business days to respond with documentation\n3. If they don't respond, ESD will often rule in your favor\n4. If they do respond with misconduct allegations, ESD will contact you for your side\n\nWhat complicates this is that you were fired during a personal argument with someone who was both your boss and friend. That blurs the line between personal disputes and work-related misconduct. ESD has to determine if the firing was for legitimate work-related reasons or personal ones.\n\nWhile waiting, make sure you keep filing your weekly claims without fail. If approved, you'll get back pay for all weeks properly claimed during adjudication.

Thank you, this is really helpful. I'm definitely keeping up with my weekly claims. Do you think it would help if I uploaded a statement explaining my version of events through my eServices account, or should I just wait for them to ask me?

If ur like super worried about not getting your side herd, call them!!! But be ready to spend like all day trying to reach someone. I had to call like 40+ times last month when I had an adjudiction issue and I still never got thru 😫

I was in the same boat with the endless calling until I tried Claimyr (claimyr.com). They got me through to ESD in under 25 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3\n\nIt was seriously worth it because I found out my employer never even responded to ESD's inquiry, which was why my claim was stuck. The agent manually moved my claim forward once I got through.

wait does anyone no if u can get fired over text message is that even leagl? i thought they had to give u written notice or something

Washington is an at-will employment state, so unfortunately yes, you can be fired via text message, phone call, email, or in person - all are equally legal. There's no requirement for written notice unless specified in an employment contract or union agreement. The method of termination doesn't affect your unemployment eligibility, but the reason for termination does.

Just know the ESD system is COMPLETELY STACKED against workers. They'll believe whatever garbage your boss tells them and make YOU prove it wrong. I got fired after refusing to work 12-hr shifts with no overtime pay, and they claimed I \

That's exactly what I'm afraid of - that she'll make up some reason and they'll just believe her without giving me a fair chance. Did you have documentation that helped your case during appeals?

One thing that really helped me when I was in adjudication was uploading any supporting documents to my eServices account. Since your termination was over text, if you still have any of those text messages (even if they don't explicitly say \

This is great advice, thank you. I do have the text where she fired me, and I've saved all our previous conversations where she praised my work just weeks before. I'll upload those to my eServices account tonight.

After seeing your responses, here's what I recommend:\n\n1. Upload a detailed statement explaining what happened\n2. Upload screenshots of the firing text and any relevant previous conversations\n3. Continue filing weekly claims\n4. If it goes beyond 6 weeks, contact your state representative (seriously, this works)\n\nKeep in mind that if your employer doesn't respond to ESD, you'll likely be approved automatically. Many small businesses don't respond because they don't want their UI tax rates to increase. Since this was also a friendship situation, she might not want to engage with the process at all.

omg the state rep tip is so good!!! that's exactly what i ended up doing when mine took forever and my claim got approved like 3 days after i contacted my rep's office!!!

Thank you everyone for the helpful advice. I've uploaded my statement and text message screenshots to eServices. I also called ESD using Claimyr this morning and actually got through! The agent told me my employer hasn't responded to their inquiry yet, which is partly why it's still in adjudication. They said if there's no response by December 15th, they'll likely rule in my favor. Such a relief to finally get some information. I'll keep filing my weekly claims and update here when there's a resolution.

That's great news! The fact that your employer hasn't responded yet often works in your favor. Keep doing what you're doing, and I'm glad you were able to get through to someone for a status update.