Holiday week hours reporting on ESD weekly claim - how to handle paid time off?
This is my first time filing for unemployment and I'm confused about how to report my hours for a holiday week. I worked 16 hours at my part-time job, and got paid for 8 hours of holiday pay (for Memorial Day). Do I report 24 hours total on my weekly claim? Or just the 16 hours I physically worked? What about the other 16 hours in my regular work week when I wasn't scheduled? The ESD weekly claim form is asking for hours worked and I don't want to mess this up and get hit with an overpayment later. Anyone know the correct way to handle holiday pay on a weekly claim?
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NeonNebula
You need to report ALL hours you were paid for, including holiday pay. So in your case, that would be 24 hours total (16 worked + 8 holiday pay). Holiday pay counts as earnings and hours. The other 16 hours where you weren't scheduled don't matter - ESD only cares about hours you actually worked or were paid for.
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Diego Chavez
•Thank you! That makes sense. So just to be super clear - I report 24 hours and include the holiday pay in my earnings, but I don't need to explain anything about the hours I wasn't scheduled for? I was overthinking this way too much.
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Anastasia Kozlov
i went thru this same thing last year and reported just my actual worked hours (not holiday pay) and got flagged for an audit!! Had to pay back $267 plus a penalty. DEF report all paid hours including holiday pay!!!! The ESD system is designed to catch these things eventually.
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Sean Kelly
•omg that sucks! did they make you pay it all back at once or could you do a payment plan?
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Anastasia Kozlov
•they let me do a payment plan thank god. but still totally sucked and the worst part was all the paperwork i had to fill out to prove it wasnt fraud just a mistake
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Zara Mirza
Just adding another voice to confirm - report ALL paid hours including holiday pay, PTO, sick pay, etc. For your question about the 16 hours you weren't scheduled - those don't matter at all to ESD. They only care about hours you were paid for. You don't need to mention or explain hours you weren't scheduled or weren't paid for. When in doubt, over-report rather than under-report. It's much easier to get money you're entitled to later than to deal with overpayment notices!
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Diego Chavez
•Thank you! This is so helpful. I was getting really confused between hours worked vs. hours paid vs. my normal schedule. I'll definitely report the full 24 hours (16 worked + 8 holiday).
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Luca Russo
Wait but I thought you don't have to report holiday pay if you didn't request it specifically?? My brother told me holiday pay is like a bonus and doesn't count as hours?
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Zara Mirza
•Your brother is incorrect. Holiday pay absolutely counts as hours and earnings for unemployment purposes. All paid hours must be reported, regardless of whether you requested them or not. This is a common misconception that leads to many overpayment issues.
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Nia Harris
If you're having trouble getting through to ESD to ask these kinds of questions directly (their phone lines are always jammed), I've had success using Claimyr to get through to an actual human at ESD. I was on hold for HOURS trying to get similar questions answered about reporting various types of pay. With Claimyr (claimyr.com) I got through in about 15 minutes. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 that shows how it works. Seriously saved me so much frustration with these exact reporting questions.
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Diego Chavez
•I tried calling ESD yesterday and gave up after 45 minutes on hold. I'll check this out if I have more questions - definitely need to talk to someone who can look at my specific situation. Thanks for the tip!
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GalaxyGazer
Everyone here is wrong lol. Only report hours you PHYSICALLY WORKED according to my WorkSource advisor. Holiday pay goes in a different section of the form.
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NeonNebula
•This is incorrect and potentially harmful advice. Holiday pay must be reported as both hours and earnings. There is no separate section for holiday pay on the weekly claim form. Please be careful sharing information that could cause others to receive overpayment notices.
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Zara Mirza
Just to clarify since there's some confusion in this thread: When you complete your weekly claim, you'll report: 1. Were you able and available for work? (If you were available 4 days but it was a holiday on the 5th, you'd still say YES for the full week) 2. Did you work or receive earnings? YES 3. Hours worked: 24 (16 actual + 8 holiday) 4. Gross earnings: (whatever you earned for those 24 hours) The system will then calculate your partial benefit if you qualify for one. The regular hours you didn't work or get paid for (the other 16 hours) are completely irrelevant to your UI claim.
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Diego Chavez
•This step-by-step breakdown is EXACTLY what I needed! Thank you so much for being so clear. Filing my claim now with the correct information.
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Sean Kelly
i was so confused about this too when i first started claiming last month!! the esd instructions are so unclear about all this stuff. good luck!!
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Kayla Jacobson
This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with a similar situation but with vacation pay instead of holiday pay. My employer paid me for 3 days of vacation time during a week where I also worked 2 days. Based on what everyone is saying here, I should report all 5 days as hours worked on my weekly claim, right? It sounds like any time you're paid by your employer - whether you physically worked or got holiday/vacation/sick pay - it all needs to be reported as hours and earnings. Thanks for sharing your experiences, especially the audit story - definitely don't want to go through that!
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Ravi Sharma
•Yes, exactly! You should report all 5 days as hours worked on your weekly claim. Vacation pay is treated the same way as holiday pay - it's considered earnings and hours that must be reported to ESD. The key thing to remember is that any time your employer pays you (whether you physically worked or not), it counts as both hours and earnings for unemployment purposes. So your 2 actual work days + 3 vacation days = 5 total hours/days to report. The audit story from @Anastasia really drives home why it's so important to report everything correctly from the start!
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Freya Pedersen
I just went through this exact same situation a few weeks ago and can confirm what everyone else is saying - definitely report ALL paid hours including holiday pay! I made the mistake of only reporting my physically worked hours the first time and got a letter from ESD asking for clarification. Luckily I caught it early and was able to correct it before any overpayment issues, but it was stressful. The way I think about it now is: if my employer paid me for it, ESD needs to know about it. Simple as that. Also want to echo what others said about the phone lines - I eventually got through after trying for days and the representative confirmed that holiday pay, vacation pay, sick pay, etc. all count as both hours and earnings. Good luck with your claim!
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Layla Sanders
•Thanks for sharing your experience! It's really reassuring to hear from someone who went through the same thing recently. That's a great way to think about it - "if my employer paid me for it, ESD needs to know about it." I'm definitely going to remember that rule going forward. I'm glad you were able to catch and correct the mistake before it became a bigger issue. The stress of potentially having to deal with overpayments is enough motivation for me to be extra careful about reporting everything correctly from the start!
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