How much do you get weekly for unemployment in Washington ESD?

That's actually higher than I expected! How do they determine which quarter counts as the highest earning one?

They look at the first 4 quarters of the 5 quarters before you filed. So if you file in January 2025, they'd check April 2023 through March 2024 to find your best quarter.

6 weeks?? That's crazy long. Did you have trouble reaching anyone at Washington ESD during that time?

Oh man, calling them was a nightmare. Spent hours on hold just to get disconnected. Finally used this service called Claimyr that gets you through to an actual agent - game changer. Check out claimyr.com, they even have a demo video at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ showing exactly how it works.

Never heard of that before but might be worth looking into if I run into issues. Thanks for the tip!

This is super important! I forgot to report a day of temp work once and it messed up my whole claim. Had to go through an overpayment appeal process.

Exactly - they're really strict about reporting all income. Better to over-report than under-report with Washington ESD.

Wait, is it still 3 contacts? I thought they changed it after COVID ended.

Yes, it's back to 3 weekly job contacts as of 2023. You can use WorkSourceWA.com to track them or keep your own log, but they do random audits.

Good to know about the job search stuff. I was only thinking about the money part but sounds like there's a lot more to keep track of.

That sounds like an overpayment notice. You should definitely appeal that if you think it's wrong - you have 30 days from the notice date.

yeah already filed the appeal but waiting for a hearing date. this whole thing is giving me a headache

Oh wow, I didn't even think about taxes on unemployment. That's a good point about having it withheld.

Yeah learned this the hard way in 2023. Owed like $800 in taxes on my UI benefits because I didn't withhold anything.

That's interesting. So if I was working like 20 hours instead of 40, I could potentially still get some unemployment?

Exactly! As long as you're working less than full time and earning less than your weekly benefit amount, you might qualify for partial benefits. Worth looking into.

Good advice! How long does it usually take to get the first payment once you're approved?

If everything goes smoothly, about a week after you file your first weekly claim. But that's IF there are no issues with your claim.

Correct, Washington eliminated the waiting week permanently. You can get paid for your first week of unemployment as long as you file your weekly claim on time.

Sweet, that's at least one thing they improved about the system!

When do you file the weekly claims? Is it the same day every week?

You can file starting Sunday for the previous week, but the deadline is Saturday night. I always do mine on Sunday mornings just to get it out of the way.

Same here - Sunday morning routine. Set a phone reminder because it's easy to forget if you're not used to it.

How much does something like that cost? Seems like you shouldn't have to pay extra just to reach a government agency.

I mean, you're right that we shouldn't have to, but when you're waiting weeks for answers about your benefits, sometimes it's worth it. They don't charge crazy amounts and it actually worked for me.

What's considered 'really good money' to hit that maximum?

You'd need to have earned at least $25,974 in your highest quarter to get the maximum $999 weekly. That's like making $100k+ annually.

Oh interesting, I didn't know about training benefits. How does that work?

It's called the Training Benefits program. You can get approved for additional unemployment while you're in an approved training program. Has to be for a high-demand occupation though.

That's reassuring to hear. I was getting anxious about how complicated it all sounds.

Yeah, there's definitely a learning curve but thousands of people do it successfully. Just take it one step at a time.

That's really smart advice. Better to have too much documentation than not enough.

This saved me during an audit. They questioned my job search activities and I had screenshots of everything. Made the whole process much easier.

Good tip! I'll keep that in mind if I need to call them.

Or use that Claimyr thing someone mentioned earlier. I tried the early morning calling and still couldn't get through half the time.

True, their phone system is pretty overloaded most of the time. Whatever gets you connected to an actual person is worth trying.