Missed OAH appeal hearing I never got notice for - now ESD claiming overpayment despite governor's office help

yes!!! this EXACT thing happened to me last month!! i never got ANY notification about my hearing date and then got a letter saying i missed it. called esd like 50 times and nobody would help. they're still saying i owe $4200 which is impossible becuz i reported everything correctly. the whole system is rigged against us!!!

You need to act quickly. Call the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) directly at their main number, not ESD. Explain that you never received notice of the hearing and request that they reopen your case under "good cause" for missing the hearing. Under WAC 192-04-170, they can grant you a new hearing if you can show you had good cause for missing it, like never receiving the notice. As for the overpayment, the governor's office doesn't have direct authority to remove an overpayment - they can only communicate with ESD about your case. Your best option is to: 1. Get the appeal hearing rescheduled first 2. Gather all documentation showing you were eligible for benefits 3. Ask for a waiver of the overpayment if you can't afford to repay it Don't wait on this - you typically only have 30 days from the "no-show" decision to request a reopening.

I had almost the exact same situation in January except my employer actually showed up to the hearing I didn't know about! The OAH people were actually really understanding when I called them about the missed notice. I got a new hearing scheduled without much hassle, but it took about 3 weeks. Definitely call them ASAP though - there's a strict timeline for requesting a new hearing. I think it's only 30 days from when they sent the "you missed your hearing" letter. The overpayment will probably stay on your account until after your new hearing. Mine did, which was super stressful, but once I won my appeal it finally went away. The whole process took almost 2 months though.

After dealing with ESD for the last year, I've learned you have to be EXTREMELY proactive and persistent with them. Their system is completely overwhelmed and things fall through the cracks all the time. I've used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to actually get through to an ESD representative when I kept getting hung up on through the regular phone lines. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3. It saved me so much frustration when I had a similar issue with my appeal notification going to an old email address. Once I got through to someone, they were able to help me get my hearing rescheduled and gave me the direct number for OAH that I needed.

As someone who's gone through the appeals process twice, I can tell you that OAH and ESD are completely separate entities, which causes a lot of these communication problems. Here's what you need to know: 1. OAH schedules the hearings, not ESD 2. You must contact OAH directly about rescheduling (1-800-366-0955) 3. Request a reopening under "good cause" per WAC 192-04-170 4. You have 30 days from the date on the missed hearing notice to request reopening 5. The overpayment will remain on your account until a favorable decision is issued Regarding the governor's office - while they can advocate for you, they cannot directly modify your claim. Only ESD can do that, and usually only after an official appeal decision or an official redetermination by an ESD claims specialist. Document everything, including when you called and who you spoke with.

my cousin works at ESD and she says they've been having problems with their notification system all year. lots of people missing hearings because the emails go to spam or the letters get lost. she said your best bet is calling OAH and also stopping by your local WorkSource office because sometimes they can help push things through faster when you show up in person. also the governors office thing is just them sending an email to ESD customer service. those emails take FOREVER to process in their system so don't count on that fixing anything anytime soon.

omg the EXACT SAME THING happened to meeee!!!! i had to request a new hearing and they gave me one. but heres the important part - print out your email history to prove you never got the notification!! thats what i did and the judge was super understanding. its crazy how many times this happens!

u should also check ur spam folder and make sure ur contact info is updated in both the ESD system AND the OAH system. they dont sync automatically. I missed a hearing cuz my address was wrong in OAH but right in ESD. total mess.

someone told me once that if both you AND your employer miss the hearing, they're supposed to automatically reschedule instead of just deciding against you. did your letter say they ruled against you or just that you both missed it? might be worth mentioning that when you call