OAH hearing missed due to DV situation & address issues - waiting on good cause decision from ESD judge

I had almost the exact same situation last year. The judge should grant you good cause if you can document the DV situation. Do you have any police reports, protection orders, or social services documentation about your housing instability? Those will help tremendously with establishing good cause. For the original claim issue - leaving due to hostile work environment - you'll need to prove you made reasonable efforts to resolve the problems before quitting. Did you report the harassment to HR or management before leaving? Any documentation of the unpaid overtime? These will be critical when your actual appeal hearing happens. But first things first - focus on getting past this good cause determination. The judge typically takes 3-5 business days to decide on that part.

in my experiance esd is HORRIBLE with DV claims!!1! they denied me twice even with police reports because they said i "could have kept working there" while dealing with the restraning order stuff. had to get a advocate from a DV shelter to help with my appeal. if your in king county i can give u the number for the place that helped me. they knew all the unemployment rules and how to talk to the judges

I think your biggest hurdle is going to be the original quit reason, not the missed hearing. ESD is really strict about voluntary quits, even in hostile environments. They typically expect you to have formal documentation of complaints and the employer's response before quitting. Did your employer contest your unemployment claim?

have u tried getting thru to esd on the phone? sometime they can tell u the status of your case or put notes in ur file about the address change issue. i was on hold 4 HOURS last month b4 i gave up

Your DV situation should absolutely qualify as good cause for missing the hearing. Washington has expanded protections for DV survivors in unemployment cases. Make sure to emphasize the safety concerns that prevented you from maintaining a stable mailing address. When I went through the appeals process, I found that being extremely organized with all documentation really helped. Put together a timeline showing: 1. When you left your job and why 2. Your housing movements due to DV concerns 3. Any police reports or protection orders 4. Documentation of the hostile work environment I'd be surprised if the judge doesn't grant good cause, but if they don't, you can appeal that decision too. It's exhausting but stay persistent!

Hate to be negative but my cousin went thru somthing similar and OAH denied his appeal for missing the first hearing... said updating contact info was his resopnsibility no matter what. hope u have better luck tho!

I'm a former case manager who worked with DV survivors on benefits issues. Here's what I recommend: 1. Contact the OAH clerk ASAP and ask about submitting additional evidence for your good cause determination - specifically your protection order and any DV services documentation. 2. For the actual appeal, Washington state law (RCW 50.20.050(2)(b)(iv)) specifically protects people who leave work due to domestic violence situations. Make sure your appeal cites this specific law. 3. As for the hostile work environment claim, that's covered under RCW 50.20.050(2)(b)(iii), but you'll need to demonstrate that the conditions were so intolerable that a reasonable person would leave. Your documentation of unpaid overtime and verbal abuse will be crucial. Hang in there - this process is frustrating but there are protections built into the law for situations exactly like yours.

One thing I learned from my experience - judges want to see that you made EVERY possible effort to resolve issues before quitting. For your hostile work environment claim, be prepared to answer these specific questions: 1. What specific actions did you take to report/resolve the issues? (emails, meetings, etc.) 2. What specific response did you receive? 3. Why was continuing to work there impossible/unreasonable? The more specific examples you can provide, the better. They're looking for concrete reasons, not just general statements about a hostile environment.