How many pay stubs do you need for unemployment Washington ESD claim

You typically need your most recent pay stubs covering the last 18 months of work history. Washington ESD uses this to calculate your weekly benefit amount based on your highest earning quarter. I'd recommend keeping at least 8-10 recent pay stubs handy when you file your initial claim.

I just filed last month and they asked for pay stubs from my last employer covering the past 6 months. Had to upload them through the SecureAccess Washington portal. Make sure they're clear scans or photos.

If you're having trouble getting through to Washington ESD to ask about documentation requirements, I recently discovered Claimyr (claimyr.com) which helps you actually reach an agent by phone. They have this demo video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ. Might be worth checking out if you need to verify exactly what pay stubs they need for your specific situation.

This is so confusing!! I have pay stubs going back 2 years but some are from different jobs. Do I need ALL of them or just from my most recent employer??? And what if one of my old employers went out of business?

Here's what I learned when I filed - Washington ESD will calculate your benefits based on wages reported by your employers, but if there's missing or incorrect wage information, that's when you'll need your pay stubs as backup documentation. I'd say having 12-18 months worth is safe.

honestly the washington esd system is such a mess, they ask for different things from different people. my friend only needed 3 pay stubs but they wanted 8 from me. makes no sense

When I worked at H&R Block we always told clients to keep 2 years of pay stubs for tax purposes, so that should cover you for unemployment too. The key thing is making sure they show your gross wages clearly.

Does anyone know if they accept electronic pay stubs or do they have to be paper copies? My company went all digital last year.

I'm in a similar boat and trying to be prepared. Also wondering - if you get severance pay, do you need documentation of that too? I got 2 weeks severance when I was laid off.

Pro tip: make copies of everything before you submit it. I submitted my original pay stubs and then they asked for additional documentation later but I didn't have copies. Had to request duplicates from my employer which delayed everything by 2 weeks.

Question about pay stubs - what if you had a job where you got paid cash under the table? Obviously that won't show up on official records but it was legitimate work.

I had to provide 15 months of pay stubs because I had worked for 3 different employers during my base period. Washington ESD needed to verify wages from each one. It was a pain but necessary to get my full benefit amount.

Just wanted to add that if you're struggling to get through to Washington ESD about documentation requirements, that Claimyr service someone mentioned earlier really does work. I used it last week to ask about my specific situation and actually got to talk to a real person. Way better than the automated system.

The key thing people are missing here is that Washington ESD has access to wage records from most employers through their quarterly reporting system. You usually only need pay stubs if there's a discrepancy or if you worked for an employer who didn't report wages properly.

One more thing to consider - if you worked overtime regularly, make sure your pay stubs clearly show those hours and wages. That can significantly impact your benefit calculation since Washington ESD looks at your highest earning quarter.

This thread has been super helpful. I was only planning to keep my last 4 pay stubs but now I realize I should gather up at least 12-18 months worth just to be thorough. Better safe than sorry when it comes to unemployment documentation.

Final thought - if you're self-employed or have 1099 income, that's completely different documentation requirements. You'll need tax returns and 1099 forms instead of pay stubs. Just wanted to mention that in case anyone reading this has mixed employment types.

Update on the Claimyr thing - I tried it today and actually got through to Washington ESD in like 15 minutes. Agent confirmed I need pay stubs from the last 18 months but only from jobs where I worked more than 30 days. Super helpful to get that clarification directly from them.

For what it's worth, I just filed my claim yesterday and the online system only asked me to upload pay stubs if there were wage discrepancies. Since my employer reported everything correctly, I didn't need to provide any additional documentation. The system is pretty smart about matching up wage records.

Bottom line from reading all these responses: gather 12-18 months of pay stubs from all your jobs, make copies or scan them, have them ready when you file, but don't panic if you don't have every single one. Washington ESD has most wage information already and will let you know if they need additional documentation.