What does ABY mean on ESD unemployment claim status?
I just logged into my ESD account to check on my unemployment claim and noticed 'ABY' status next to one of my weekly payments. Does anyone know what ABY stands for? I can't find an explanation anywhere on the website and I'm worried it might mean there's a problem with my claim. I've only been on unemployment for about a month after being laid off from construction work.
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Gemma Andrews
ABY usually means 'Able and Available Yes' - it's how they mark that u told them ur able to work and available for work that week. Its a good thing! means that part of ur claim is fine
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Lena Schultz
•Oh that's a relief! Thanks for the quick answer. Wish ESD would just spell these things out clearly on their website instead of using all these cryptic codes.
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Pedro Sawyer
It actually stands for 'Able, Available, and Yes' - which indicates you answered 'Yes' to being able and available for work on your weekly claim. This is a standard status code that appears when you've properly completed your weekly certification. It's not a problem with your claim - it's confirming you met the basic eligibility requirement of being able and available for suitable work during that claim week.
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Lena Schultz
•Thank you for the detailed explanation! That makes sense. So many acronyms to keep track of with unemployment claims.
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Gemma Andrews
•thats what i said lol. able and available = yes
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Mae Bennett
I was confused by this too when I first started claiming! There's a whole alphabet soup of status codes ESD uses. ABY is good, but watch out for ABN (Able and Available No) - that can stop your payments. Also, if you ever see 'ADJ' that means adjudication which can hold things up for weeks. BTW, if you ever need to actually talk to someone at ESD about these codes or other issues, I found this service called Claimyr that helped me get through when the phone lines were jammed. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a demo video (https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3) that shows how it works. Basically they hold your place in line and call you when they get an agent. Saved me hours of redial hell when I had an adjudication issue.
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Lena Schultz
•Thank you! I'll keep that in mind if I need to call them. I've heard the wait times are insane.
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Beatrice Marshall
WAIT FOR REAL?! I thought ABY was bad this whole time!!! I've been panicking every week when I see it lmao
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Pedro Sawyer
•No need to panic! ABY is actually what you want to see. It confirms you're meeting the basic eligibility requirements. If you ever see ABN, VDN, or REF - those are the codes that indicate potential issues with your claim.
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Melina Haruko
Yep, ABY just means your able and available - totally normal. But since your in construction, make sure you're doing your job search activities every week. My brother-in-law got caught on that - ESD requires 3 job search activities every week now unless your employer specified a return-to-work date and you got approved for standby status.
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Lena Schultz
•Yes, I've been keeping up with the job search requirements! Doing at least 3 activities every week and documenting everything. Thanks for the reminder though - definitely don't want to mess that up.
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Dallas Villalobos
ESD is THE WORST at explaining these codes!! I spent 3 hours on hold last month trying to figure out what NRW meant on my claim (turns out it was No Return to Work). Wouldn't it be AMAZING if they just had a simple glossary on their website!? But nooooo, that would make too much sense. 🙄
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Beatrice Marshall
•ikr? the whole system is designed to be confusing. i swear they WANT us to make mistakes
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Gemma Andrews
my cousin had his claim stuck in somethin called adjudication for like 2 months and never got paid until he finally got thru to some1 on the phone. ESD system is broken
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Pedro Sawyer
•Adjudication happens when there's a question about your eligibility that needs to be resolved. It's unfortunately common, especially with more complex employment situations. The best thing to do is to keep filing your weekly claims during this time, even if payments are paused. Once adjudication is resolved, if you qualify, you'll receive all the back payments for those weeks.
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Reina Salazar
To summarize what everyone has said: ABY = "Able and Available: Yes" which means you correctly certified that you were able and available for work during that week. It's a positive status code that indicates your weekly claim was properly filed in terms of the availability requirement. As long as you're meeting your job search requirements (3 activities weekly) and don't have other issues, your claim should process normally with this status.
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Lena Schultz
•Thanks for the clear summary! This is really helpful. I appreciate everyone who took the time to explain.
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Max Knight
Just wanted to add that if you're new to unemployment like I was, it's worth bookmarking this thread! I had the same panic when I first saw ABY on my claim status. The ESD website really could use better documentation of these codes. For anyone else reading this - ABY is definitely one of the "good" codes you want to see. It means you're doing everything right on that front. The ones to watch out for are the ones that start with "D" (like DEN for denied) or "ADJ" for adjudication like others mentioned. Keep doing your job searches and you should be fine!
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