How is Washington ESD unemployment calculated - confused about my benefit amount

Washington ESD uses your highest earning quarter from your base period to calculate benefits. They take that quarter and divide by 26 to get your weekly benefit amount. Your base period is the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters before you filed. So if you filed in January 2025, they'd look at quarters from July 2023 through September 2024.

That makes more sense! I think my highest quarter was probably last summer when I was working overtime. Thanks for explaining the base period thing - I had no clue what that meant.

wait so they don't just look at your most recent paycheck? that seems weird

No, they look at a longer period to get a better average of your earnings. It prevents people from gaming the system by working extra right before filing.

The maximum weekly benefit in Washington is $999 for 2025 so your $487 sounds reasonable for a $52k salary. There's also a minimum of $295. But honestly trying to get through to Washington ESD to verify your calculation is nearly impossible with their phone system.

OMG yes the phone situation is ridiculous!! I've been trying to call for weeks about my adjudication and can never get through.

I actually found this service called Claimyr that helps you get through to Washington ESD agents. They have some kind of system that calls for you and gets you connected. Check out claimyr.com - there's a demo video at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ that shows how it works. Might be worth trying if you need to verify your benefit calculation.

Is that legit? Sounds too good to be true honestly

I was skeptical too but it actually worked for me. Got connected to an agent in about 20 minutes instead of calling all day.

Your benefit amount also depends on whether you had any other income during your base period. If you had multiple jobs or quit a job voluntarily, that could affect the calculation. Washington ESD looks at all wages reported under your SSN during those quarters.

I only had the one job during that time period. Does overtime pay count differently than regular wages in the calculation?

No, overtime is just regular wages for UI calculation purposes. It's all lumped together as gross wages in each quarter.

The thing that confused me was the monetary determination letter. It shows all these different dollar amounts and quarters and I couldn't make heads or tails of it. Anyone else find that letter super confusing?

YES! Mine had like 6 different numbers on it and I still don't know what half of them mean. Why can't they just explain it in plain English?

The key numbers to look for are your 'Total Base Period Wages' and 'High Quarter Wages'. Your weekly benefit amount should be roughly your high quarter divided by 26, but capped at the state maximum.

Ok that helps. My high quarter was $14,200 so $14,200 ÷ 26 = $546. But my benefit is only $487 so maybe there's another factor?

Washington state also has a thing where your weekly benefit can't exceed a certain percentage of your average weekly wage during the base period. I think it's like 63% or something. That might explain why your benefit is lower than the simple division.

That would make sense. I'll have to dig out my paperwork and do the math.

This is why I hate dealing with government benefits. Everything is so complicated and they never explain it clearly.

if you think your calculation is wrong you can appeal it but you have to do it within 30 days of getting your monetary determination. dont wait too long if something looks off

Good to know! I'll double check the math this weekend and appeal if needed.

How do you even appeal something like that? Do you need proof or just tell them you think it's wrong?

you need to provide documentation of your wages if you think they missed something. pay stubs, W2s, stuff like that

I went through this same thing last year. Turns out Washington ESD was using outdated wage information from one of my previous employers. Had to send in my W2 to get it corrected. Took forever but they did fix it and gave me back pay for the difference.

How long did the correction take? I'm worried about cash flow if I have to wait months for them to fix an error.

About 6 weeks total but that was during COVID when everything was slower. Might be faster now.

One thing to remember is that your unemployment benefits are taxable income. So that $487 isn't what you'll actually take home if you choose to have taxes withheld. Just something to factor into your budget planning.

Wait, they take taxes out of unemployment? That's brutal.

It's optional but highly recommended. Otherwise you'll owe a big chunk come tax time. I learned that lesson the hard way.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll make sure to elect for withholding when I file my first weekly claim.

The Washington ESD website has a benefit calculator tool somewhere but honestly it never worked right when I tried to use it. Kept giving me error messages.

Their whole website is a mess tbh. Half the links don't work and the other half take forever to load.

I had better luck calling and actually talking to someone, but that was before all the craziness with the phone lines. These days you might want to try that Claimyr service someone mentioned earlier if you really need to talk to an agent.

Just want to add that if you were a union member, sometimes there are additional benefits or different calculations that apply. Worth checking with your union rep if that applies to your situation.

I wasn't in a union but good point for others reading this thread.

Union benefits can definitely affect things. My brother got supplementary unemployment benefits through his union that weren't counted against his Washington ESD benefits.

Does anyone know if commission income gets calculated differently? I had a mix of salary and commission at my last job and I'm not sure how that affects the benefit calculation.

Commission income is treated the same as regular wages for UI purposes. It's all reported as gross wages by your employer, so Washington ESD doesn't distinguish between the two.

That's a relief. I was worried they might not count commission income at all.

Another thing that can affect your calculation is if you received severance pay. Depending on how it was paid out, it might push your wages into a different quarter or affect your eligibility entirely.

I didn't get severance unfortunately, just got walked out the door.

Severance can actually delay when you can start collecting benefits too, depending on how it's structured. It's complicated.

The whole system seems designed to be confusing honestly. Like they don't want people to understand how much they should be getting. At least with your $487/week you're getting a decent amount compared to some states.

True, Washington benefits are pretty generous compared to places like Florida or Texas where the max is like $300 something.

Yeah I guess I should be grateful. $487 will at least cover most of my rent and utilities while I job search.

Make sure you keep track of your job search activities because Washington requires 3 job search contacts per week to keep getting benefits. That's separate from the benefit calculation but equally important.

Good reminder! I've been applying to jobs but not keeping detailed records yet. Better start a spreadsheet.

The WorkSourceWA website has tools to help track your job search if you register there. Makes it easier come audit time.

If you're still confused about your specific calculation, you might have luck with that Claimyr service to get through to an agent. I used it last month when I had questions about my claim and actually got to talk to someone who could pull up my account and explain everything. Worth the small fee to get real answers instead of guessing.

I might try that if I can't figure it out from my paperwork. Thanks for the recommendation!

How much does Claimyr cost? I've been trying to reach Washington ESD for weeks about my own issue.

It's pretty reasonable for what you get - getting through to an actual person who can help. Check their website for current pricing. Beats spending days trying to call on your own.