How long between unemployment claims - Washington ESD waiting period?

There's no waiting period between claims in Washington. You can file a new claim immediately after your previous benefit year ends or if you have a new separation from employment. Since you worked between claims, you should be able to file right away. The key is that you need to have earned enough wages in your new base period to qualify.

i think there might be a waiting period? my friend had to wait like 6 months or something before she could file again

I had this exact situation happen to me last year. Filed in March, went back to work in July, then got laid off again in October. I was able to file a new claim immediately in October with no waiting period. Washington ESD will calculate your benefits based on your new base period which should include wages from both jobs.

The tricky part isn't the waiting period but actually getting through to Washington ESD to file your claim. I spent hours on hold trying to get someone on the phone when I needed to file my second claim. Eventually found this service called Claimyr that helped me get connected to an agent much faster - they have a website at claimyr.com and there's a demo video at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ showing how it works.

THERE IS NO WAITING PERIOD! People keep spreading this myth but it's completely wrong. You can file immediately after being separated from your new job. The confusion comes from people mixing up Washington rules with other states that DO have waiting periods.

wait so if i worked for like 2 weeks between claims i can still file again? i thought you had to work for a certain amount of time

The real question is whether you'll qualify for benefits on your new claim. If you only worked a short time between claims, your benefit amount might be lower because it's based on wages in your base period. You need to check if you have enough qualifying wages.

This happened to my brother too - he was worried about some waiting period but there isn't one. He filed online and got his first payment within 2 weeks. The key is filing as soon as possible after your separation date.

I'm in a similar boat - got laid off again after going back to work for 6 months. Been trying to call Washington ESD for 3 days straight and can't get through. The phone system is absolutely terrible.

Just to be 100% clear - Washington state has NO waiting period between unemployment claims. You can file immediately after separation from any job. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise because it's just not true.

the only thing you might have to wait for is if your claim goes into adjudication for some reason. that can take weeks to resolve but thats different from a waiting period between claims

I've filed 3 different unemployment claims over the past 5 years due to layoffs in my industry. Never had to wait between any of them. Filed immediately each time and got benefits within 2-3 weeks.

Make sure when you file your new claim that you report the wages from your recent job correctly. That's super important for your benefit calculation and to avoid any issues later.

One thing to keep in mind is that your weekly benefit amount might be different on your new claim compared to your first claim, depending on the wages in your new base period. But there's definitely no waiting period to worry about.

Bottom line: File immediately, no waiting period required. I learned this the hard way by waiting 2 weeks thinking I had to, and that was 2 weeks of benefits I lost out on.