When do you get paid for your waiting week on unemployment in Washington ESD?

Thanks! I'll double check my payment history. Maybe I missed it or it got mixed in with my regular payments.

Have you tried calling right at 8am when they open? That's usually the best time to get through to someone at Washington ESD.

Yeah I tried that but still couldn't get through. The automated system just kept saying high call volume and hanging up on me.

How much does that cost? I'm already struggling financially and can't afford to pay extra just to talk to someone about my benefits.

It's worth it when you consider how much time you save not having to redial constantly. Plus you're guaranteed to actually talk to someone instead of getting hung up on.

No, it's held separately. You have to complete 3 weeks of regular benefits first before they release the waiting week payment. It's Washington state law.

that's confusing why don't they just tell you that upfront

I haven't had any disqualifications and I've filed every week on time. I'll check my payment history more carefully to see if I missed it.

Mine took exactly 4 weeks after my first regular payment. It showed up as a separate deposit on the same day as my weekly benefit that week.

I feel you. The uncertainty is the worst part. At least once you get the waiting week payment you know the system is working properly.

Yeah I just want to make sure I'm not missing out on money I'm owed. Every dollar counts right now.

Thanks for explaining that! I was wondering why my first week seemed to disappear.

That makes more sense now. So it's basically a security measure to make sure you're legitimately unemployed for more than just a week or two.

Identity verification is such a pain. They asked for like 5 different documents and then took forever to process them.

Yeah it was frustrating but at least everything worked out in the end. Just had to be patient.

You should definitely call Washington ESD about that. 8 weeks is too long - something might be wrong with your claim.

This is exactly why I used Claimyr. When you have issues like this, you need to actually talk to someone at Washington ESD, not just wait and hope it gets fixed automatically.

I'll try calling them but I'm not optimistic about getting through. Maybe I'll check out that Claimyr thing.

Oh that's a good point! I might have overlooked it if it came as a separate deposit. I'll check my bank statements more carefully.

Yeah mine came as two separate deposits about 2 hours apart. Easy to miss if you're not looking for it.

Seriously! A simple notification would solve so much confusion. Instead we all have to figure it out ourselves or hunt around on forums like this.

Exactly! They have our email addresses, they know when they process the payment, just send us a heads up!

Did they charge you a lot for that service?

It was worth it for the peace of mind. Plus I got my question answered in 20 minutes instead of spending hours trying to call myself.

Glad you found it! This thread will be helpful for other people with the same question.

That's great news! I'm going to check my statements again too. This gives me hope that mine might be there and I just overlooked it.

What if you had a week where you worked part-time and reported earnings? Does that count as one of the 3 weeks?

Yes, as long as you still received some unemployment benefit that week, it counts toward the 3 weeks. The key is receiving payment, not the amount.

True, but I think the idea is to prevent people from filing for unemployment for just a week or two and then going back to work. It ensures you're actually unemployed for a substantial period.

I guess that makes sense from their perspective. Still annoying when you need the money though.