How does Washington ESD determine your unemployment pay - confused about benefit calculation

Washington ESD uses your earnings from the first four of the last five completed quarters before you filed your claim. They call this your 'base period.' They take your highest earning quarter from that period and divide by 26 to get your weekly benefit amount. There's also a maximum weekly benefit which changes each year - for 2025 it's around $999 per week.

So it's not based on my most recent pay? That seems weird since my income went up over the past year.

Right, it's based on older wages. If your recent income was higher, you might want to wait and file later when those higher wages are included in your base period, but you'd lose benefits in the meantime.

yeah the whole base period thing is confusing as hell. mine was calculated on wages from like 18 months ago when i was making way less. sucks but thats how the system works i guess

You can actually request an alternate base period if your recent wages were significantly higher. It's called ABP and uses the most recent four quarters instead.

wish i knew that when i filed! too late now though

I had the same issue trying to reach Washington ESD to understand my benefit calculation. Spent literally hours on hold trying to get through to someone who could explain it properly. Finally found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually got me connected to an agent in like 10 minutes. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ that shows how it works. Super helpful for getting actual answers instead of just reading confusing paperwork.

That sounds too good to be true. How much does it cost?

They focus on the value of actually getting through rather than the cost. For me it was worth it just to get clarity on my benefits and not waste whole days trying to call.

I used Claimyr too when I had questions about my standby status calculation. Worked exactly like they said it would.

Here's the basic formula: Washington ESD looks at your total wages in your base period, finds your highest quarter, then calculates your weekly benefit as roughly 3.85% of that quarterly amount. So if your highest quarter was $6,500, your weekly benefit would be around $250. There's also a minimum of $188/week in 2025.

That makes more sense! So $247 sounds about right if my highest quarter was around $6,400.

Don't forget you also have to meet the earnings requirement - you need at least $7,000 in your base period total and earnings in at least two quarters.

The whole system is designed to screw workers over. They use old wages so you get less money when you actually need it most. And good luck trying to call them to ask questions about it!

I understand the frustration, but the base period system is actually designed to ensure you have a stable work history before claiming benefits. It's not perfect but there's reasoning behind it.

Stable work history my ass. I worked full time for 3 years and get penalized because my raise happened too recently.

wait so if i just got a big promotion does that mean i should wait to file for unemployment if i get laid off?? this is so confusing

It depends on when your promotion happened and how much more you're making. If it was very recent, waiting a few months could increase your benefits, but you'd lose benefits during that time.

ugh why does everything have to be so complicated

I remember being confused about this too. What helped me was looking at my actual wage history on the Washington ESD website. You can see exactly which quarters they used and how they calculated your benefits. It's under 'View and Maintain Account Information' I think.

I'll check that out, thanks! I probably should have looked there first.

Yeah the online account actually has way more info than the paper notices they send. Wish they made that clearer.

Pro tip: if you think there's an error in your wage calculation, you can protest it within 30 days. I had to do this when they missed some of my wages from a previous employer.

How do you protest it? Is there a specific form?

You can file a protest online through your account or by calling Washington ESD. You'll need documentation of the missing wages though.

I tried protesting mine but never heard back. That was 6 weeks ago.

Does anyone know if commission earnings count towards the base period calculation? I made most of my money from commissions but it was reported as regular wages on my W2.

Yes, commission earnings count as long as they were reported to Washington ESD by your employer. It doesn't matter if it was commission or salary - just what shows up in their wage records.

Good to know, thanks!

This whole thread is making me realize I need to double-check my own benefit calculation. I just assumed Washington ESD got it right but now I'm not so sure...

It's always worth checking. Mistakes happen, especially if you had multiple employers or gaps in employment.

Same here, I never questioned it but maybe I should have.

For what it's worth, the Washington ESD website has a benefit calculator you can use to estimate your benefits before filing. Might be helpful for people trying to understand the calculation.

Wish I had known about that before! Could have saved me a lot of confusion.

The calculator is helpful but it doesn't account for all the edge cases. Still good for a rough estimate though.

I've been on unemployment three different times over the years and each time the calculation was different based on my work history. It really does depend on that base period - sometimes it works in your favor, sometimes it doesn't.

That's interesting. I guess it really varies person to person based on when you file and your employment pattern.

Exactly. Timing can make a big difference in your benefit amount.

Just want to mention that if you're really struggling to get answers from Washington ESD directly, I had success with that Claimyr service someone mentioned earlier. I was getting frustrated trying to understand why my benefits seemed low compared to my recent earnings, and they helped me get through to an actual person who could explain it.

Yeah I'm definitely considering trying that. The regular phone number just rings busy or puts me on hold forever.

I was skeptical at first but it actually worked for me too. Better than wasting entire days trying to call.

One thing that caught me off guard was that they also look at whether you earned enough in multiple quarters, not just the total amount. You need earnings spread across at least two quarters in your base period.

Oh that's good to know. I worked pretty consistently so that shouldn't be an issue for me.

Yeah that requirement trips up people who had seasonal work or long periods of unemployment.

Thanks everyone for explaining this! I feel like I understand it much better now. The base period system makes sense even if it doesn't always work in your favor. At least now I know why my benefits are what they are.

Glad we could help! The system is definitely not intuitive but once you understand the logic it makes more sense.

This thread was super helpful for me too. I had no idea about the alternate base period option.