Unexpected ESD overpayment waiver email with no prior notification - what does this mean?

check ur esrvices account under notices. they probably sent u something there but didn't mail it. happened to me last month, suddenly got hit with $4200 overpayment from 2025 that i knew nothing about. they said i didnt report some income but i reported everything!!

This sounds like it could be part of the ESD's recent audit process. They've been reviewing claims from the past 18 months and sending out these waiver notices to people who might have legitimate overpayments they weren't aware of. The email is likely legitimate, but you should verify it by logging into your eServices account directly (not through any links in the email). Check your correspondence section AND your "Overpayments" tab specifically. Sometimes notices don't show up in the regular notices section. If you still don't see anything, call ESD directly to confirm if this is real and get details about what they're claiming you were overpaid.

had the exact same thing happen omg!! they sent me a waiver email but nothing else before that. turned out they mixed up my quarters and thought i was working when i wasnt. took FOREVER to get someone on the phone tho

You have to act quickly on this! There's a 30-day window to respond to overpayment notices once they're issued, even if you just found out about it now. The waiver email is actually good news - it means they're pre-emptively considering that this might be their error, not yours. I went through this last year and discovered ESD had incorrect wage information from my employer. They had somehow received W-2 info that showed I was working during weeks I claimed, but it was actually from the previous quarter. You need to: 1. Print out any proof you have of not working during the time they claim 2. File an appeal immediately (even before you get through to someone) 3. Submit the waiver application they mentioned Doing all three protects you best and stops collection while they review.

When they do these audit reviews, they're often looking at employer-reported quarterly wage data that gets matched against your weekly claims. The problem is that employers report WHEN THEY PAID YOU, not necessarily when you worked those hours. So if you received final paychecks, vacation payouts, or delayed compensation that hit during weeks you were claiming, it can trigger these false overpayment notices. The fact they sent you a waiver email first is actually unusual and potentially good news - they might be acknowledging their system flagged something that human review suggests might not be valid. You absolutely need to speak with an agent to get this sorted out. The waiver application is important, but so is understanding exactly what caused this so you can provide the right documentation.

I've been dealing with ESD for years and getting through to them on the phone is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE these days. I spent 4 days trying to reach someone about my overpayment issue last month. After getting hung up on repeatedly, I finally tried Claimyr (claimyr.com) which got me through to an agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 Worth every penny because the agent was able to see notes in my account that weren't visible to me and explained exactly what triggered the overpayment notice. Turns out it was a system error they were able to fix while I was on the phone.

THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS RIGGED TO GENERATE THESE FAKE OVERPAYMENTS!!! I've been fighting one for 3 months. They make it IMPOSSIBLE to prove your innocence. No matter what documentation you provide, they say it's not enough. Then they start garnishing your wages without warning!!! They're trying to claw back money because the state budget is tight. DON'T TRUST THEM!!

UPDATE: Finally managed to speak with an ESD agent! Turns out this was exactly what someone mentioned above - they were counting my final paycheck + vacation payout as "unreported earnings" even though I DID report it. The agent found my original reports and has submitted a correction to remove the overpayment completely. She said the system sometimes flags these automatically during audits and human review is needed to fix it. Such a relief! She also said they're sending these waiver emails proactively when their system detects possible errors like this. Thanks everyone for the help and advice!

This happened to my cousin too! He never even knew about an overpayment until he got the waiver email. Turns out they had him confused with someone with a similar name. The whole system is such a mess these days.