When can I certify for unemployment benefits with Washington ESD?

You'll need to serve a one-week waiting period before you can receive your first unemployment payment. This means the first week you're unemployed won't be paid, but you should still file your weekly claim for that week to establish your claim. Weekly claims typically become available on Sunday for the previous week.

The weekly claims open up every Sunday at 12:01 AM and you have until the following Saturday to submit them. I always do mine on Sunday morning to get it out of the way. Make sure you answer all the questions honestly about any work you did that week.

I had trouble reaching Washington ESD when I had questions about my certification timing. Kept getting busy signals and disconnected calls. Finally found this service called Claimyr that helped me get through to an actual person at Washington ESD. They have a website at claimyr.com and there's a demo video at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ that shows how it works. Made the whole process so much less stressful.

Since you were laid off on January 15th, that means your first week of unemployment would be January 12-18 (Sunday to Saturday). You'd file your weekly claim for that week starting Sunday January 19th, but you won't receive payment for it due to the waiting week. Your first payable week would be January 19-25.

Just make sure you're doing your job search activities too because they'll ask about that when you certify. You need to make at least 3 job contacts per week unless you're on standby.

It's actually 3 job search activities per week for most people. This includes applying for jobs, attending job fairs, networking, or taking approved training classes. You need to keep a log of these activities.

The whole system is so confusing! Why can't they just make it simple - you're unemployed, you get money. All these waiting periods and job search requirements just make it harder for people who are already stressed.

One thing that helped me was setting a phone reminder for every Sunday to file my weekly claim. Easy to forget and then you're scrambling to file before the Saturday deadline.

Does anyone know if you can file your weekly claim early? Like if you know you didn't work at all during the week, can you file on Friday instead of waiting for Sunday?

I remember being so anxious about my first certification. Kept double checking every answer because I was afraid of messing something up. The good news is it gets routine after a few weeks.

Make sure you have your Social Security number and PIN ready when you log in to file. Sometimes the system times out if you take too long to complete the certification.

If you do run into any issues with your weekly claims or have questions about your benefit amount, that Claimyr service I mentioned earlier really helped me get answers quickly. Much better than waiting on hold for hours or trying to get through the busy phone lines.

Also remember that if you work part-time while receiving unemployment, you need to report those earnings when you certify. Washington ESD will reduce your benefit amount based on what you earned that week.

The waiting week thing is so stupid. Like we're not already struggling enough financially when we lose our jobs. Other states don't have waiting weeks.

Quick question - do you have to certify on Sunday specifically or just sometime during the week? I work weekends sometimes and Sunday mornings are hard for me.

I always screenshot my confirmation page after I submit my weekly claim, just in case there are any disputes later about whether I filed on time.

One more thing - if you forget to file your weekly claim, you might be able to file it late but you'll need to call Washington ESD to explain why. Better to just set that reminder and not risk it.

The whole process gets easier once you've done it a few times. First couple weeks I was paranoid about every question, now it takes me like 5 minutes to complete my weekly certification.