What counts as full-time work for ESD unemployment eligibility? 32 or 40 hours?

when i was on unemploymnet last yr they cut my benefits once i hit 32 hours. my employer considers that fulltime anyway so it worked out but i think its different for each company. did u call ESD and ask?

The actual answer is a bit more complicated than just hours. ESD doesn't have a specific hour threshold that automatically makes you full-time. Instead, they look at your earnings compared to your weekly benefit amount (WBA). If you earn 75% or more of your weekly benefit amount, you'll start seeing significant reductions. Once you earn more than your WBA plus $5, you're considered fully employed for that week and won't receive benefits for that week. For example, if your WBA is $500, you can earn up to $505 before losing all benefits for that week. Hours don't matter as much as what you're earning. You should report all hours and earnings accurately each week when filing your weekly claim and the system will calculate your partial benefit amount automatically.

I was in a similar situation last year and WASTED SO MUCH TIME trying to get someone from ESD on the phone! Eventually I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an ESD agent in about 15 minutes instead of dealing with busy signals and disconnections. They have a video on how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 The agent I spoke with confirmed what the person above said - it's about your earnings compared to your weekly benefit amount, not specific hours. In my case, I was able to work 34 hours some weeks and still get partial benefits because my hourly rate was low enough that I didn't exceed my WBA + $5.

Just want to add my experience - I lost all benefits when I hit 30 hours a week even though my company considers 40 hours full time. So confused about why until I read the reply about it being about earnings not hours. Think my WBA was really low tho because I only had worked part time before filing.

Make sure you're also aware of the difference between your "hours worked" and "hours offered" - if your employer offers you full-time work (whatever that means for them) and you decline those hours to stay on unemployment, ESD could potentially disqualify you for refusing suitable work. So be careful how you handle the conversation with your manager. When you report your weekly claim, you need to report any hours offered that you turned down, not just hours you actually worked.

back when i filed in 2025 ESD told me that you have to report ALL EARNINGS regardless of how many hours and they calculate ur benefit. i think they deduct like 75% of what u earn from ur weekly amount?? So if u make $100 they take away $75 from ur benefit. i dunno exactly though just know u gotta report everything