How to know if approved for unemployment - Washington ESD status confusion

The determination pending status means Washington ESD is still reviewing your claim for approval. You should have received a monetary determination letter in your eServices inbox or by mail that shows your weekly benefit amount IF you're approved. Check your correspondence section in eServices - that's where all the official determinations appear.

honestly the washington esd website is confusing as hell, took me forever to figure out where everything was

I was in the same boat last month. Here's what helped me: if you're stuck trying to figure out your claim status, I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually got me through to speak with a real Washington ESD agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ showing how it works. The agent was able to explain exactly what my claim status meant and what I needed to do next. Way better than trying to decode all the confusing status messages on the website.

The key thing to look for is your 'Weekly Claim Status' in eServices. If you see 'Paid' next to your weekly claims, you're approved and payments are processing. If it says 'Processing' or 'Under Review' you're still in adjudication. Also check if there are any 'Outstanding Issues' listed - those need to be resolved before approval.

ugh why is this so complicated??? shouldnt there just be a big green checkmark that says APPROVED or red X that says DENIED

Update: I found the monetary determination letter in my correspondence! It shows my weekly benefit amount is $310 and I'm approved for 26 weeks. But I still don't understand why my weekly claims aren't showing as paid yet.

I had to wait almost 3 weeks after my monetary determination before I saw my first payment. Washington ESD processes things in batches and there are always delays.

The Washington ESD system shows approval status in multiple places which makes it confusing. Your main clue is the monetary determination letter showing benefit amounts. But you also need to watch for any disqualification letters or requests for additional information that could affect your approval status.

wait so getting the monetary determination letter means youre definitely approved? i got one but still no payments

Another way to check is looking at your 'Benefit Year' information in eServices. If it shows an end date that's about a year from when you filed, that confirms your claim was approved and established.

Just wanted to add - when I used Claimyr to get through to Washington ESD, the agent explained that 'determination pending' status can last anywhere from a few days to several weeks depending on your specific situation. Having someone actually explain your claim status over the phone was so much better than trying to interpret the website.

Pro tip: set up text notifications in your eServices account. Washington ESD will text you when important determinations are issued or when payments are processed. Makes it easier to stay on top of your claim status.

The most definitive way to know you're approved is when you receive both: 1) Monetary determination letter with benefit amounts, and 2) First payment deposited or debit card issued. Until you have both, consider your approval tentative.

been through this process twice now and honestly calling washington esd directly is still the best way to get a clear answer about your claim status, even though its hard to get through

One thing that confused me was getting a monetary determination but then seeing 'issues' on my claim that weren't there before. Turns out Washington ESD can add new issues even after initial approval if they find something during their review process.

For anyone else reading this - don't panic if your claim status seems confusing. The Washington ESD system processes thousands of claims and the status updates don't always happen in real time. As long as you got your monetary determination letter and you're filing weekly claims correctly, you should be good.

Quick question - if you're approved but then go back to work, do you need to do anything special to close your claim or does it just automatically end?

I used that Claimyr service someone mentioned earlier and it really helped clear up my confusion about claim status. The Washington ESD agent explained that my 'under review' status was normal for my situation and gave me a timeline for when to expect resolution. Definitely recommend if you're stuck wondering what's happening with your claim.

Final thought - bookmark the eServices correspondence section and check it every few days. Washington ESD communicates everything through official letters/notices, and missing an important deadline because you didn't see a notice can mess up your whole claim.

I'm going through the exact same confusion right now! Applied two weeks ago and have been trying to decode all the different status messages. The monetary determination letter is definitely the key - I finally found mine buried in the correspondence section and it clearly shows my weekly benefit amount and duration. Still waiting on my first payment though, so it's reassuring to hear that 1-3 week delays are normal. The Washington ESD website really could use better user experience design - having to hunt through multiple sections just to understand if you're approved is unnecessarily stressful when you're already dealing with unemployment.

I'm dealing with this exact same situation right now! Filed my claim 8 days ago and have been checking eServices obsessively trying to figure out what's happening. The status messages are so confusing - I have a weekly benefit amount showing but also "pending determination" and I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Reading through all these responses has been super helpful, especially knowing that the monetary determination letter is the key document to look for. I found mine in correspondence and it does show my approval with $285/week for 26 weeks, but like others mentioned, no payments yet. It's such a relief to know that 1-3 week payment delays are normal and I'm not doing something wrong. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - this thread should honestly be pinned somewhere because the official Washington ESD website doesn't explain any of this clearly!

I'm in the exact same boat as everyone else here! Filed my claim 12 days ago and have been going crazy trying to figure out if I'm actually approved or not. The Washington ESD website is honestly terrible - why can't they just have a simple "APPROVED" or "PENDING" status at the top of your account instead of making us hunt through multiple sections? I finally found my monetary determination letter after reading this thread and it shows $298/week approved, but still no payments. At least now I know that's normal and I'm not missing some crucial step. This whole thread has been more helpful than anything on the actual ESD website - seriously, whoever designed that user interface should be forced to file for unemployment themselves and see how confusing it is!

I'm going through this exact same frustration right now! Just filed my claim 6 days ago and have been completely lost trying to navigate the Washington ESD system. Like everyone else mentioned, the website feels like it was designed to be as confusing as possible - there's no clear "approved/denied" status anywhere obvious. After reading through all these helpful responses, I finally know to look for the monetary determination letter in the correspondence section. Haven't received mine yet, but at least now I understand that "determination pending" doesn't necessarily mean something's wrong. It's honestly crazy that we need community discussions like this just to understand basic information about our own claims. The fact that so many people are dealing with identical confusion shows this is clearly a systemic UX problem, not user error. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - this thread is way more useful than anything on the official ESD website!

I'm dealing with this exact same confusion! Filed my claim about a week ago and have been refreshing my eServices account multiple times a day trying to figure out what's happening. The "determination pending" status had me panicking that I messed something up in my application. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been so reassuring - it's clear this is just how the Washington ESD system works, not that we're doing anything wrong. I finally found my monetary determination letter in correspondence after reading this thread, and it shows I'm approved for $302/week. Still waiting on that first payment but now I know that's totally normal. It's honestly ridiculous that in 2025 we need community threads like this just to understand basic benefit status information. The website UX is genuinely terrible - there should be a simple dashboard showing "APPROVED" or "PENDING" right when you log in, not this treasure hunt through multiple sections!