How does unemployment pay work in Washington ESD - payment schedule and amounts?

Thanks! I do have direct deposit setup. I filed my weekly claim on Sunday so hopefully I'll see something by Wednesday.

Make sure you're filing by midnight Sunday or you might get delayed. I learned that the hard way.

What kind of issues usually cause delays? My claim status just says 'paid' but no money yet.

Could be anything - job search verification, wage verification, or sometimes just system glitches. If it says paid though you should see the money soon.

How much does that cost? I'm already strapped for cash waiting for my unemployment.

It's worth checking out their site for the details. For me it was totally worth it to get answers quickly instead of spending days trying to call.

Interesting, never heard of this before. Might be useful for when I need to update my job search info.

Mine shows $362 per week. Does that sound about right for someone who was making $45K annually?

Yeah that sounds reasonable. The formula is roughly 60% of your average weekly wage up to the maximum.

How do you switch to direct deposit? Is it in the online portal?

Yeah, log into your eServices account and look for payment method options. You'll need your bank routing and account numbers.

Good point! I did elect to have taxes taken out. Better to deal with it now than get hit with a big bill later.

How much do they typically take out for taxes?

I think it's 10% federal. You can change this in your account settings if you want.

Are you filing your weekly claims? Even if your initial claim is approved, you still have to file every week to get paid.

Yes I've been filing every Sunday! This is so frustrating. I might need to call them.

This is exactly the kind of situation where Claimyr helped me. Getting through to Washington ESD by phone is nearly impossible during normal business hours, but they got me connected to an agent who could see what was holding up my payments.

I have Chase, do you know if they typically hold it or release it right away?

Most major banks like Chase release unemployment payments pretty quickly, usually same day or next morning.

I always file mine right when I wake up on Sunday. Never thought about doing it at midnight!

Yeah I started doing it after I read somewhere that they process claims in the order they're received. Not sure if it's true but seems to work for me.

How many jobs do I need to apply to each week? I've been doing about 3-4.

I think it's 3 job search activities per week minimum. Applications, networking events, interviews all count.

Make sure you're logging everything in WorkSourceWA too. They can check that system.

Good reminder. I'm setting aside about 20% of each payment for taxes just to be safe.

That's smart. Better to have too much set aside than to owe money you don't have.

How long did it take to get through using Claimyr?

About 15 minutes total. Way better than the 3 hours I spent trying to call directly the day before.

I think I'm going to try this. I really need to find out what's going on with my payments.

That's good to know. I was wondering why my payment was late during Thanksgiving week.

Yeah, any federal holiday affects the processing schedule. Plan accordingly around those weeks.

How did you find out that was the problem?

I finally got through to someone at Washington ESD who could see the failed ACH transfers in my account. Had to update my banking info and wait for the next weekly claim cycle.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful info! I feel much better about understanding the process now.

This thread has been super helpful. I'm about to file my first claim and was totally confused about how payments work.