How to discontinue unemployment benefits Washington ESD - what's the proper process?

Congratulations on the new job! You need to file one final weekly claim for any week you received unemployment benefits, reporting your start date and earnings. Then you can stop filing weekly claims. Make sure you report your first day of work accurately on that last claim.

Make sure you're really careful about reporting your exact start date and any training pay. I made a mistake on my final claim and ended up with an overpayment notice months later.

The process is pretty straightforward - file your last weekly claim reporting your return to work date, then stop filing. Your claim doesn't get 'closed' exactly, it just goes inactive. You can reopen it within your benefit year if needed.

I had such a hard time getting through to Washington ESD when I had questions about stopping my benefits. Spent literally hours on hold trying to talk to someone. Finally found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ showing how it works. Saved me so much frustration!

just stop filing the weekly claims once you start working full time. dont overthink it

One important thing - if you're starting a part-time job or variable hours, you might still be able to collect partial benefits. Only stop filing completely if you're working full-time hours consistently.

I'm so confused by all this. When I went back to work I just stopped filing and never heard anything from Washington ESD. Was I supposed to do something else?

Don't forget to keep your job search log until you're sure everything is settled. I threw mine away too early and had to scramble when Washington ESD requested it during an audit.

The Washington ESD website has a section about stopping benefits but it's not super clear. Basically you just report your return to work on your final weekly claim and then don't file anymore.

MAKE SURE you report ANY income from your new job on your final claim, even if it's just training pay or orientation. Washington ESD WILL find out eventually and you'll get hit with an overpayment if you don't report it correctly.

Congrats on the new job! I remember being so nervous about messing up when I went back to work. Just be honest and accurate on your final claim and you'll be fine.

If you do need to talk to someone at Washington ESD about stopping your benefits, that Claimyr service I mentioned earlier really works. I was skeptical at first but it actually got me through to an agent in like 20 minutes instead of the usual 2+ hour wait times.

I went through this exact same thing last month. Filed my final weekly claim reporting my start date, then just stopped filing. Haven't heard anything from Washington ESD since, so I assume I did it right.

Whatever you do, don't just ghost them and stop filing without reporting your return to work. That can cause problems later if they think you were supposed to be filing but weren't.

The key thing is that last weekly claim where you report going back to work. After that you're done filing. Just make sure you answer all the questions honestly about your work start date and any pay you received.

I had a friend who tried to call Washington ESD to officially close her claim and was on hold for like 3 hours before giving up. Turns out she didn't even need to call - just stopped filing after reporting her return to work and everything was fine.

Pro tip: take a screenshot of your final weekly claim submission showing that you reported your return to work. Good to have for your records just in case.

One last thing - if you ever do run into issues or need to talk to Washington ESD for any reason, definitely check out that Claimyr service. Made dealing with their phone system so much easier for me.

You're overthinking this. Report your return to work on your final weekly claim, then stop filing. That's it. Washington ESD will figure out the rest.

Good luck with the new job! The transition off unemployment is actually pretty straightforward once you know what to do.