What is PEUC unemployment Washington ESD - confused about benefit types

PEUC stands for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation but that program ended in September 2021. It was a federal program that extended regular unemployment benefits during COVID but it's no longer available. If you filed recently, you're just on regular Washington ESD unemployment insurance (UI). Don't worry, you're not missing anything - those pandemic programs are all done.

yeah all those pandemic programs are gone now - PEUC, PUA, the extra $600 and $300 weekly payments, all of it ended in 2021. Regular Washington ESD unemployment is all that's left and honestly it's way less confusing now

Since you're new to the system, make sure you understand the current requirements. You need to make 3 job search contacts per week and log them in your WorkSourceWA account. Also keep track of any work you do while claiming benefits - even one day of work needs to be reported on your weekly claim.

If you're having trouble reaching Washington ESD with questions about your claim, I found this service called Claimyr that actually gets you through to a real person. They have a website at claimyr.com and there's a demo video at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ that shows how it works. I was spending hours on hold and getting nowhere.

Wait I'm confused - I thought there were extended benefits available if you exhaust your regular 26 weeks? Is that different from PEUC?

This is exactly why the whole system is so confusing! They had all these acronyms during the pandemic - PEUC, PUA, FPUC, EB - and now people don't know what's still available and what's not.

For anyone else confused about this stuff, the Washington ESD website has a page that explains all the old pandemic programs and confirms they're no longer available. Saved me a lot of research time.

I was on PEUC back in 2021 when it was still a thing. It was basically an extension of regular unemployment but funded by federal money instead of state money. You didn't have to apply separately - Washington ESD automatically moved you to PEUC when your regular benefits ran out. But yeah, it's been gone for years now.

Just focus on your regular claim and don't worry about all the old pandemic stuff. The important thing is making sure you file your weekly claims on time and meet the work search requirements. That's really all there is to it now.

If your claim gets stuck in adjudication or you have issues, definitely try that Claimyr service someone mentioned earlier. I spent 3 weeks trying to get through to Washington ESD about an adjudication issue and Claimyr got me connected the same day I used them.

The pandemic really messed up people's understanding of unemployment benefits. I work in HR and I still get employees asking about PUA and PEUC when they get laid off. It's been 3+ years since those programs ended!

Bottom line - if you're filing for unemployment in 2025, you're getting regular Washington ESD unemployment insurance. 26 weeks maximum (unless Extended Benefits gets triggered), current maximum weekly benefit is around $999, and you need to do 3 job searches per week. That's it.

One thing to remember is that all those pandemic programs were temporary federal programs. Regular state unemployment insurance has been around forever and that's what we're back to. Much simpler system overall.

If anyone else is confused about current Washington ESD policies, I'd recommend just calling them directly or using that Claimyr service to get accurate info. There's a lot of outdated information online from the pandemic era that doesn't apply anymore.

Thanks everyone for clearing this up! I feel much better about my unemployment situation now. Just going to focus on filing my weekly claims and doing my job searches. No need to worry about PEUC or any other programs that don't exist anymore.

Just wanted to add my experience as someone who went through the transition from pandemic programs to regular UI. I was on PEUC in 2021 and when it ended, I had to file a new regular Washington ESD claim. The process was actually pretty straightforward - just had to go through the normal application process like anyone else. The confusing part was that my PEUC claim just... stopped, and I had to figure out on my own that I needed to file a new regular claim. Washington ESD could have communicated that transition better, but once I got the new claim going it was much simpler than dealing with all the pandemic program complications.