Starting new job with irregular hours - how to file weekly ESD claim correctly?

Congrats on the new job! You absolutely need to report that you're working now, even if you're just in training. For this Sunday's claim, report all hours you worked during that claim week (Sunday-Saturday), which sounds like 13 hours so far. If you work any additional hours before Saturday, include those too. You need to report the hours when you WORK them, not when you get paid for them. ESD calculates benefits based on when you performed the work, not your payday schedule. Also make sure to answer "yes" to the question about whether you're working, and provide your employer details when prompted. The system will ask for your gross earnings - if you know your hourly rate, multiply that by your hours worked. If you don't know your rate yet, provide your best estimate and update it later if needed.

yep u gotta tell em u got a job right away even during training. they dont care when u get paid, just when u did the work. if ur claim week ends saturday, then report all hours up till then

I went through this EXACT situation last year. Training with unpredictable hours is so frustrating when trying to report to ESD correctly! Here's what you need to do: 1) Report ALL hours worked during the claim week (Sunday-Saturday) 2) Answer YES to whether you're working 3) Provide employer info when asked 4) Calculate gross earnings (hours × hourly rate) even if you haven't been paid yet ESD uses a formula where they deduct a percentage of your earnings from your weekly benefit amount. You'll probably get partial benefits during training since your hours are low. Once you start working more hours, your benefits will reduce and eventually stop. The system is actually pretty good about calculating this automatically once you input your hours and earnings correctly.

I hope you're having better luck getting through to ESD than I did! When I started my new job with irregular training hours, I really needed clarification on how to report everything correctly. I spent DAYS trying to reach someone at ESD to confirm I was doing it right. After getting disconnected 7 times, I finally found Claimyr (claimyr.com) which got me connected to an ESD agent in less than 15 minutes! They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 The agent confirmed exactly what others are saying - report hours when worked (not when paid), and always report ALL work activity even during training. They also noted that if your schedule is really inconsistent during training, you should include a note in your weekly claim explaining the training situation.

Thank you all SO much for the helpful advice! I'll definitely report the 13 hours on Sunday's claim and make sure to answer YES about having a job now. I'll calculate my gross pay based on my hourly rate even though I haven't been paid yet. I'm still a bit nervous about how this affects my benefits. Does anyone know if I'll still get some unemployment for this week since I only worked 13 hours? My weekly benefit amount is $468.

THE SYSTEM IS RIGGED!!!! They make this so confusing ON PURPOSE so they can hit you with overpayment notices later and take your money back!!!! I went thru EXACTLY what ur describing and reported everything perfectly and 6 MONTHS LATER they still said I owed them $2,300!!!!! Watch ur back with these people!!!

just wondering did u do ur job search activities for this week? u still gotta do those 3 job searches even if ur working part time training unless ur benefit drops to $0

My son had almost the same thing happen last month. His training hours were super unpredictable too. The most important thing is being consistent with how you report. Pick either when you work the hours OR when you get paid, and stick with it. ESD doesn't really care which method you use as long as you're consistent about it.

I filed my claim yesterday and followed everyone's advice. I reported that I'm working, listed all 13 hours, calculated my gross earnings, and I made sure to complete my job search activities too. The system calculated a partial benefit amount just like you all predicted! I'm keeping detailed notes of all my training hours too. My schedule for this week is still pretty limited (just Thursday and Friday), but they said after that I should finally get a regular schedule. Thanks again for all your help!