How is unemployment calculated for Washington ESD benefits - confused about my weekly amount

Washington ESD uses your highest earning quarter from your base period to calculate benefits. Your base period is the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters before you filed. They take your highest quarter earnings, divide by 26, then you get roughly 50% of that amount up to the maximum weekly benefit. For 2025 the max is $999/week. Your $487 sounds about right if your highest quarter was around $25,000.

You can actually check your monetary determination letter that Washington ESD sent you - it shows exactly how they calculated your weekly benefit amount. It lists all your quarterly wages from the base period and shows which quarter they used for the calculation. If you can't find it, log into your SecureAccess Washington account and look under documents.

If you think your calculation is wrong you should definitely verify it. I had issues with Washington ESD not counting wages from a previous employer correctly. The base period thing trips up a lot of people - they look at recent quarters instead of the specific 4-quarter window. You have the right to appeal the monetary determination if the wages or calculation are incorrect.

I've been trying to get through to Washington ESD for weeks to ask about my calculation but their phone lines are impossible. Every time I call I either get busy signals or sit on hold for hours just to get disconnected. It's so frustrating when you need answers about something this important. Has anyone found a way to actually talk to a real person there?

the whole system is ridiculous tbh. why cant they just take your last paycheck and give you half of that weekly? all this base period quarterly nonsense is designed to confuse people and pay out less money. classic government bureaucracy

There's also something called alternate base period if your regular base period doesn't qualify you or gives you a really low amount. It uses more recent quarters. Might be worth looking into if your calculation seems off.

Quick question - does overtime count toward your quarterly wages for the calculation? I worked a ton of OT in my highest quarter last year.

One thing to watch out for - if you had any unpaid leave or gaps in employment during your base period quarters, that can affect your calculation. Washington ESD only counts actual wages paid, not what you would have earned if you worked full time the whole quarter.

For what it's worth, $487/week for a $52k annual salary sounds pretty reasonable. I was making about $48k and my weekly benefit is $445. The calculation seems to work out to roughly 40-50% of your average weekly earnings depending on your specific situation.

Don't forget you can only collect benefits for a maximum of 26 weeks in Washington (unless there are extensions). So your total potential benefit is your weekly amount times 26. In your case that would be around $12,662 maximum. Just so you can plan ahead financially.

Has anyone else had trouble with Washington ESD not including all their employers in the base period calculation? I had three different jobs in 2024 but only two show up on my monetary determination. Trying to figure out if the third one just didn't report my wages or what.

The Washington ESD calculation worksheet is actually pretty straightforward once you understand it. Take your four base period quarters, find the highest one, divide by 26, then multiply by 0.5 (or whatever percentage applies). There are some variations for partial benefits but that's the basic formula.

Just wanted to add that if you're working part-time while on unemployment, they'll reduce your weekly benefit based on your earnings. It's not dollar-for-dollar though - there's a formula for partial benefits too. Something to keep in mind if you pick up any side work.

Been dealing with Washington ESD for months and finally got my calculation issue resolved through Claimyr. Their service really works for getting through to actual agents who can explain things clearly. Worth checking out if you're having trouble reaching anyone at Washington ESD directly.

Another thing - make sure your Social Security earnings record matches what Washington ESD has. Sometimes there are discrepancies that can affect your benefit calculation. You can check your SS earnings online at ssa.gov.

Original poster - sounds like your $487 weekly amount is probably correct based on what others are saying. If you're still concerned, definitely verify it against your actual quarterly wages from 2024. But mathematically it seems to line up with your $52k annual salary.