How are unemployment benefits determined in Washington ESD - confused about my weekly amount

Washington ESD uses your highest earning quarter from your base period to calculate benefits. They take your total wages from the 4 quarters before you filed (not including the most recent quarter) and use a formula. Your weekly benefit is typically around 3.85% of your highest quarter earnings, but there's a minimum and maximum amount.

wait so if I made more money 2 years ago than last year, they use the older higher amount? that doesn't seem right...

I had trouble getting through to Washington ESD to ask about my benefit calculation too. Spent hours on hold trying to reach someone who could explain it properly. Finally found this service called Claimyr at claimyr.com that actually got me connected to a real person at Washington ESD within minutes. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ showing how it works. The agent was able to walk me through exactly how they calculated my weekly amount.

Your $394 weekly amount sounds about right for part-time retail work. The maximum weekly benefit in Washington is currently $999, minimum is $295. They also look at whether you worked enough hours to qualify - you need at least 680 hours in your base period or earned at least $7,000 in your highest quarter.

ugh the whole system is so confusing. why can't they just pay you based on what you were actually making when you got laid off? makes no sense to use old wages

There's also a dependency allowance if you have kids. You can get an extra $25 per week for each dependent child under 18. That might explain if your total seems higher than expected.

Just went through this same confusion last month. The key thing is they use your 'base period' wages, not your most recent earnings. You can actually request an alternate base period if your recent earnings were significantly higher, but you have to ask for it specifically.

I remember being shocked when I got my benefit amount because I thought it would be way less. Turns out I had a really good quarter early in my base period that I forgot about. Check your wage history on the SecureAccess Washington site to see all your reported earnings.

Been trying to call Washington ESD for 3 weeks about my benefit calculation and keep getting busy signals or hung up on. This is ridiculous. The online chat never works either.

Your weekly benefit amount also affects how much you can earn from part-time work without losing benefits. You can typically earn up to your weekly benefit amount minus $5 before they start reducing your UI payment.

don't forget about taxes! your unemployment benefits are taxable income. you can have taxes withheld or pay quarterly but plan for it

The benefit calculation is actually pretty straightforward once you understand it. They take your total wages from your highest earning quarter in the base period, multiply by 0.0385 (3.85%), and that's your weekly amount. Then they cap it at the maximum which is currently $999/week.

I was in a similar situation and couldn't figure out my benefit amount. Kept trying to call Washington ESD but could never get through. Finally used that Claimyr service someone mentioned and got connected to an actual person who explained everything. Turns out they were using the right calculation but I was looking at the wrong quarter.

Remember that your benefit amount can change if you work part-time while collecting. They reduce your weekly payment dollar-for-dollar after you earn more than your weekly benefit amount minus $5. So if you're getting $394, you can earn up to $389 without any reduction.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful explanations! This makes way more sense now. I was worried they made a mistake but it sounds like $394 is correct based on my work history. I'll keep filing my weekly claims and focus on my job search.