Washington ESD unemployment benefits - which employer is responsible for my claim?

Oh that makes sense, I thought one employer had to pay directly for my benefits. So all the employers I listed contribute to the same pool?

Exactly! All Washington employers pay unemployment taxes that go into the state trust fund. Your benefit amount is calculated based on wages from all qualifying employers during your base period.

Can any of my three employers contest it even if I was laid off through no fault of my own?

They can try to contest it, but if you were legitimately laid off due to lack of work, their contest shouldn't be successful. Washington ESD will investigate and make the determination.

Thanks for the tip! I've been trying to call Washington ESD for days with no luck. How does that service work exactly?

Basically they handle the calling and waiting for you, then connect you when they get a real person on the line. Saved me so much frustration when I had complex questions about my claim.

Never heard of that but honestly anything is better than the current Washington ESD phone system. Takes forever to get through.

That's interesting. So if Company C laid me off, do they pay more into the system because of that?

Eventually yes, layoffs can affect their experience rating and increase their unemployment tax rate in future years. But it doesn't impact your current claim.

They already paid into the system through their regular unemployment taxes. Your current benefits are coming from that pooled fund, not as a direct charge to any employer.

ok that makes way more sense. i was worried my last boss would be mad about having to pay for my unemployment lol

Good to know! I was wondering if having multiple part-time jobs would hurt my benefit amount somehow.

Actually it often helps because more total wages usually means a higher weekly benefit amount, up to the maximum allowed in Washington.

Just make sure you reported all your employers accurately when you filed. Washington ESD cross-references with wage records.

It's a common misconception! The pooled system actually protects both employers and workers by spreading the risk across all participating employers.

Just focus on your job search requirements and filing your weekly claims correctly. The employer payment stuff is all handled behind the scenes by Washington ESD.

Will do! I've been keeping detailed records of my job search activities just to be safe.

They can only contest if they have grounds to - like if they think you were fired for misconduct or quit without good cause. If you were laid off legitimately, contests usually fail.

ok good. one of my old managers was kind of a jerk so I was worried he might try to cause problems

Washington ESD investigates all contests thoroughly. Even if someone tries to contest unfairly, the facts usually come out during the investigation.

I might need to look into that if things get complicated. Right now my claim seems to be processing normally but good to know there's an option.

Yeah I bookmarked that site too. The Washington ESD phone system is absolutely terrible for getting real help.

There is some information on the Washington ESD website about how the trust fund works, but you're right that it's not very prominent or easy to understand.

I spent an hour on their site and still didn't get a clear answer about the employer responsibility thing until reading this thread.

It may eventually affect their experience rating for future tax calculations, but there's no immediate direct charge to their account for your specific claim.

That's a relief. I was laid off due to budget cuts and felt bad about potentially costing them more money.

You're thinking of reimbursing employers - some nonprofit organizations and government entities can choose to reimburse Washington ESD directly instead of paying regular unemployment taxes.

Ah okay that sounds right. So for most people working at regular companies it's the pooled system.

They were actually being accurate! The direct payment model would be really problematic for both employers and employees.

Good reminder! I've been reporting everything even though some weeks it's just a few hours here and there.

Exactly right. It's better to over-report than under-report when it comes to work and wages.

That's unfortunate because you can't get benefits for weeks before you file, even if you were eligible. Always better to file right away when you become unemployed.

Yeah I learned that lesson the hard way. Cost me about $800 in benefits I could have received.

How much does something like that cost? Seems like it would be expensive.

Actually pretty reasonable considering how much time and frustration it saves. Check out their site at claimyr.com for details.

Yeah I can see how that would be more stable than having individual employers pay directly. Thanks for all the explanations everyone!

No problem! Hope your claim goes smoothly. Usually once you understand how the system works it's less stressful.

Glad it helped! It's one of those things that seems like it should be obvious but really isn't explained well anywhere.

Exactly! It's literally called unemployment insurance for that reason. The pooled risk model protects everyone.

I never really thought about the 'insurance' part of it before. Good analogy.