Military spouse PCS move - ESD stuck in adjudication for 5 weeks after quitting L&I job

Military spouse here who went through this last year! Yes, you absolutely qualify for benefits under the military spouse provision, but ESD is notoriously slow with these claims because they still have to verify everything with your former employer (even though it was L&I!). The "separation from job needed" status usually means they're waiting for your former employer to respond to their inquiry. Even though you worked for a state agency, different departments don't always communicate efficiently. L&I has 10 business days to respond to ESD's request, and then ESD has to review that response. Have you tried calling ESD directly to check on the status? That might help move things along.

I had a similar issue when I left my job due to my husband's military transfer in 2023. My claim was stuck in adjudication for almost 7 weeks! What finally worked was contacting my state representative's office - they have staff dedicated to helping constituents with state agency issues. Once I involved them, my claim was processed within 3 days. Also, double-check that your L&I HR department actually responded to ESD's request. Sometimes these requests get lost in bureaucratic shuffles, especially if your direct supervisor hasn't confirmed your departure reason. Military spouse relocation is 100% a qualifying reason, so this is just a procedural delay, not a qualification issue.

HAHA good luck getting ESD to do ANYTHING in a reasonable time frame!! i've been waitng 3 MONTHS for them to fix an issue with my claim. its absurd how they treat people who are already struggling. the system is designed to make you give up!!

If you're struggling to reach ESD on the phone, you might want to try Claimyr. I was in adjudication for weeks and couldn't get through on the phones at all until I found this service. It basically navigates the phone system for you and calls you back when it gets an agent on the line. Saved me hours of frustration. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 Once I finally spoke with an agent, they were able to see that my former employer hadn't responded to their inquiry yet, and they sent a follow-up request that got things moving.

im a military spouse 2 and had a similar thing happen when we moved from lewis-mcchord. make sure u keep doing ur weekly claims even while waiting!! u should get backpay for all those weeks once approved. my adjuticatin took almost 2 months but i got all the money eventually

One more important tip: make sure you're documenting any job search activities while waiting. Even though your reason for leaving your previous job is valid, you still need to meet the job search requirements (3 activities per week) once you're in your new location. The military spouse provision exempts you from the "quit for good cause" requirement, but not from the job search requirements.

Unfortunately you can't technically backfill job search activities, but you can document anything you actually did in those weeks (applications, resume submissions, networking, etc.). When you finally speak with an agent, explain your misunderstanding about the requirements. Sometimes they'll give you a one-time exemption if you can show you were actively looking but just not documenting properly. If you already have a job lined up at your new location with a future start date, you might qualify for "standby" status which would exempt you from job search requirements temporarily. But you'd need to apply for that specifically.

One additional thing to check - log into your eServices account and look for any alerts or questionnaires they might have sent. Sometimes they need additional information but the notification gets filtered to spam. Also, military spouse claims sometimes require an additional Military Spouse Declaration form that's separate from your initial application. If all else fails, you can also try contacting the WorkSource office in your new location - sometimes they have direct channels to ESD staff and can help move things along. Good luck!