School district maintenance supervisor denied ESD benefits due to 'breaks in school year' - I'm confused!

This is a common misapplication of the "educational employee" provision in Washington unemployment law. Your brother needs to appeal this decision ASAP (within 30 days of the denial letter date). The issue is that ESD automatically flags school district employees because many don't work during scheduled breaks and aren't eligible during those periods. But maintenance supervisors who work year-round on 12-month contracts are NOT subject to this rule when they're permanently laid off. He should clearly state in his appeal that: 1. He was a 12-month employee with no scheduled breaks 2. He was permanently laid off (not temporarily between terms) 3. He has no reasonable assurance of returning to work This is a pretty standard appeal issue for year-round school district staff. The initial claims processors often apply the educational employee rule too broadly.

Ugh, ESD messed up my claim in almost the exact same way last year!!! I was a facilities manager for a community college and got laid off in 2024 when they restructured. They denied me because of the "reasonable assurance" rule for educational employees even though I was COMPLETELY LAID OFF. It took me THREE APPEALS and almost 8 weeks to get it fixed. The whole system is a disaster and they just rubber stamp denials for anyone who worked at a school. Keep fighting!!!! Make sure your brother mentions "RCW 50.44.050" in his appeal - that's the specific law about educational employees and the exception for 12-month workers.

I think theres something more going on here. My cousin works maintenace at a school and he got unemployment during summer no problem. Maybe the school told ESD he was fired for cause? They do that sometimes to avoid paying unemployment

When he files his appeal (which he absolutely should!), he needs to specifically address the "reasonable assurance" issue. The law presumes that school employees have reasonable assurance of returning after breaks UNLESS they can prove otherwise. Your brother should include his layoff notice showing it was permanent, any communication indicating the position was eliminated, and evidence of his 12-month contract status. I personally had success getting through to ESD about this exact issue by using Claimyr (claimyr.com). When you call ESD directly, you'll wait hours and often get disconnected. With Claimyr, I got through to an agent in about 20 minutes who identified the error and escalated my case. They have a demo video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 It was much less stressful than waiting for the full appeal process, which can take 6-8 weeks nowadays.

sucks but schools do this all the time. they hire ppl on "contracts" to avoid unemployment claims. your bro should talk to a lawyer maybe??

Has your brother checked his eServices account to see if there's more detailed information about the denial? Sometimes the letters are super vague but the online portal shows the specific reason code or additional details. The online system is actually better than the letters for understanding exactly why you were denied. Also, while appealing, he should ABSOLUTELY keep filing his weekly claims! I learned this the hard way - if you win your appeal but haven't been filing weekly, you won't get paid for those weeks you missed filing.

This happened to my wife!!! She was a full-time administrative assistant at a high school on a 12-month contract and got laid off in January. ESD denied her claim citing the "reasonable assurance" rule too. We appealed and WON after about 5 weeks. The key was proving she was: 1) A year-round employee (not academic calendar) 2) Permanently laid off 3) Had no possibility of returning after a "break" The appeal form is on the ESD website but honestly it's confusing as heck. We kept getting disconnected trying to call for help until a friend told us about Claimyr. It got us through to an ESD agent who helped us file the appeal correctly. Good luck!!!

my nieghbor works for the school distict and says they have two types of workers - the ones who just work during school year and the all year workers. sounds like they mixed him up with the wrong type

UPDATE: I talked to my brother again and got more details. He definitely had a 12-month contract with no breaks in service (he even worked through summers doing major maintenance projects). The denial letter specifically cites RCW 50.44.050 about reasonable assurance of returning after breaks. He's going to call ESD tomorrow to try to get this straightened out, then file an appeal if needed. I'll update everyone once we hear something. Thanks for all the advice!!!

One more tip: When your brother appeals, he should specifically request backdating of benefits to his original filing date once the appeal is approved. I've seen cases where ESD only paid from the appeal decision date forward, not from the original claim date. This could be thousands of dollars difference! Good luck!