What time can you claim unemployment benefits - Washington ESD weekly claim hours?

You can file your weekly claim starting Sunday at 12:01 AM and you have until Saturday at 11:59 PM to submit it. The Washington ESD online system is available 24/7 except for maintenance windows (usually late Saturday nights). Most people file Sunday morning or Monday to get it out of the way early in the week.

Just to add - while you can file anytime during the week, it's better to file earlier rather than later. If there are any issues with your claim that need to be resolved, filing early gives you more time to deal with problems before the deadline. I learned this the hard way when I had a job search verification issue one week.

I've been filing claims for 8 months now and honestly the timing doesn't matter much as long as you don't miss the Saturday deadline. However, if you need to reach Washington ESD for any reason about your claim, that's where timing becomes crucial. Their phone lines are absolutely impossible to get through to - I've spent literally hours trying to reach someone.

File early in the week but NOT too early Sunday morning. I've had the system glitch on me a few times when filing right at midnight. Usually wait until at least 6 AM Sunday just to be safe.

wait so we can file anytime during the week? i thought it had to be done sunday only

The Washington ESD system is pretty forgiving with timing but don't push it to the last minute. I know someone who tried to file Saturday night at 11:30 PM and the system was down for maintenance. Missed the deadline and had to wait until the next week to file, which created all sorts of complications with their benefit payments.

Been filing for unemployment on and off for years (construction work). Here's what I've learned about timing: File Sunday or Monday if possible. Tuesday-Wednesday is fine too. Thursday gets a bit risky if you run into any problems. Friday is cutting it close. Saturday is asking for trouble. And NEVER try to file during the last few hours on Saturday night.

Pro tip: Set a recurring reminder on your phone for Sunday mornings. I use 9 AM every Sunday and it's become automatic. Takes maybe 5-10 minutes to complete the weekly claim if you don't have any complications.

Question about timing - if I file my weekly claim on Tuesday, do I get paid the same time as someone who files on Sunday? Or does filing later delay the payment?

THE WASHINGTON ESD PHONE SYSTEM IS A JOKE! Sorry for yelling but I've been trying to reach them for THREE WEEKS about a simple question and can never get through. Filing the weekly claim is easy but god help you if you need to actually talk to a human being about anything.

One thing to keep in mind about timing - if you're on standby status with Washington ESD, you might have different requirements for when you can file. Regular UI claims have the Sunday-Saturday window, but standby can be different depending on your employer situation.

I always file mine Wednesday mornings. Not too early in the week when I might forget what happened the previous week for job search activities, but not too late that I'm stressed about the deadline. Wednesday works perfectly for me.

Just want to echo what others have said - file early in the week if possible. I had a week where I put it off until Friday and then had a question about one of the certification questions. Couldn't reach anyone at Washington ESD and was worried I'd answered wrong. Would have been much less stressful if I'd filed Sunday and had time to sort it out.

Has anyone else noticed the Washington ESD website is slower on Sunday mornings? Not unusable but definitely takes longer to load pages. I switched to filing Monday mornings and it's much faster.

For what it's worth, I've been filing Thursday mornings for months without any issues. I know people say file early but Thursday gives me time to make sure I have all my job search documentation organized properly. Never had a problem with the deadline.

The real answer is file whenever works for your schedule, just don't procrastinate. The system doesn't care what time of day or what day of the week. The only thing that matters is getting it done before Saturday night. Everything else is just personal preference and risk tolerance.

One last thing about timing - if you're expecting to have issues with your claim (like if you worked some hours during the week or have other complications), definitely file early. That gives you time to deal with any problems or questions that come up. I learned this when I had to report some part-time work and it created complications I hadn't expected.

Been reading through all these responses and wanted to add - if you do run into problems and need to reach Washington ESD, that Claimyr service people mentioned actually seems legit. I was skeptical but tried it last week when I had an adjudication question. They got me through to an agent and I was able to resolve my issue. Way better than trying to call myself.

Just wanted to share my experience as someone who's been filing for about 6 months now. I started out filing Sunday nights but kept running into slow loading times, so I switched to Monday mornings around 10 AM and it's been perfect. The system runs smoothly and I'm not dealing with the Sunday rush. Plus I can take my time to double-check everything without feeling rushed. One tip that's saved me - I keep a simple note in my phone throughout the week with any job search activities so I don't have to try and remember everything when I'm filling out the claim.