Washington ESD how is unemployment calculated - confused about my benefit amount

Washington ESD uses your highest earning quarter from your base period to calculate benefits. Your base period is typically the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters before you filed. So if you filed in January 2025, they'd look at Oct 2023 - Sept 2024. They take your highest quarter earnings, divide by 26, and that's your weekly benefit amount up to the state maximum.

The calculation can be confusing but it's based on gross wages reported by your employer. Washington ESD gets this info directly from employers through quarterly wage reports. Your monetary determination should show exactly which quarters they used and the amounts. The maximum weekly benefit in 2025 is $1,014 so you're getting pretty close to that.

I had the same confusion when I filed last year. Spent hours on hold trying to get through to Washington ESD to ask about my calculation. Finally found a service called Claimyr that helped me get connected to an actual agent quickly. They have a website at claimyr.com and there's a demo video at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ showing how it works. Game changer for getting through those impossible phone lines.

The base period thing trips everyone up. It's not intuitive at all that they use old wages instead of recent ones. I was laid off in December and they're using wages from early 2024 when I was making less money at my previous job. Seems backwards but that's how the system works.

Don't even get me started on this calculation garbage. Washington ESD makes it as confusing as possible on purpose. I made $60k last year and only get $790 a week meanwhile my friend who made $45k gets $650. The whole system is a joke and they wonder why people can't figure it out.

One thing that helped me understand was looking at my wage history on the Washington ESD website. You can see exactly what wages they have on file for each quarter. Sometimes employers report wages late or incorrectly which can affect your calculation.

The quarterly system is designed to smooth out seasonal variations in pay. If you work construction or retail where hours fluctuate a lot, using your best quarter gives you a more stable benefit amount than averaging everything.

Also remember they calculate your total benefit amount (what you can collect over the whole claim) differently than your weekly amount. Total benefits are usually 26 times your weekly amount or 30% of your base period wages, whichever is less.

Pro tip: if you think Washington ESD miscalculated your benefits, you can request a redetermination. I did this when they missed wages from a side job and it increased my weekly amount by $120. You just have to provide pay stubs or W2s as proof.

Used Claimyr myself when I needed to talk to someone about my benefit calculation. Was skeptical at first but honestly it saved me so much time and frustration. Got through to Washington ESD in minutes instead of calling all day and getting busy signals.

Another confusing thing is that Washington ESD sometimes uses 'alternate base period' if you don't qualify under the regular calculation. This uses more recent wages but you have to specifically ask for it - they won't automatically check.

The whole calculation seems designed to confuse people. They could easily put a simple calculator on their website but instead you have to decode mysterious letters and call them to understand anything.

Don't forget that your weekly benefit amount affects other things too. Like if you work part-time while collecting, they reduce your benefits based on your weekly amount minus $5. So understanding the calculation helps with planning.

If anyone is still struggling to reach Washington ESD about benefit calculations, I had success with that Claimyr service too. Really straightforward - you just tell them you need to talk to unemployment and they handle getting you through. Wish I'd known about it sooner instead of wasting weeks trying to call.

Bottom line is Washington ESD uses gross wages from your highest earning quarter in your base period, divides by 26, and caps it at the state maximum. Everything else is just details that complicate the basic formula.