Where do you file for unemployment benefits in Washington - confused about the process

You need to go to the official Washington Employment Security Department website at secure.esd.wa.gov. That's the only legitimate place to file your initial claim. You'll need your Social Security number, driver's license, and employment history for the past 18 months including employer names, addresses, and dates of employment.

definitely use the official ESD site - i made the mistake of clicking on some google ad once and it was a total scam site trying to charge me to file

If you're having trouble getting through on the website, you can also call Washington ESD but honestly the phone lines are swamped. I spent 3 hours on hold last week just to ask a simple question. There's actually a service called Claimyr that helps people get through to ESD agents faster - check out claimyr.com. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ that shows how it works. Might be worth it if you get stuck.

The Washington ESD online system usually works fine for initial claims. Just make sure you file as soon as possible after your last day of work. You can't get benefits for the week you file, only for weeks after that. Also be prepared to do weekly claims every week - you can't just file once and forget about it.

THIS SYSTEM IS SO CONFUSING!!! I've been trying to figure out unemployment for 2 weeks and every website says something different. Why can't they just make this simple? My neighbor said something about ID.me verification too - is that part of filing?

Quick tip - if you worked in multiple states in the past year, you might need to file in a different state than Washington. Check which state you earned the most wages in during your base period.

been there done that - the whole process took me about 30 minutes online and then I had to wait like 2 weeks for my claim to get approved. make sure you have all your employer info ready before you start or you'll have to keep stopping to look stuff up

Don't forget you can also file by calling the claims center, but like someone else mentioned, the phone lines are absolutely brutal. I tried calling for 3 days straight and never got through. Finally used that Claimyr service someone mentioned and got connected to an agent in 15 minutes. Saved me so much frustration.

Whatever you do, don't wait! I waited like a week thinking I should look for a job first and then found out I lost a whole week of benefits because of it. File immediately even if you think you might find work soon.

The secure.esd.wa.gov site is definitely the right place. One thing that tripped me up was having to create a SecureAccess Washington (SAW) account first. That's separate from your ESD account but you need it to log in. Just be patient with the whole process - it's a lot of steps but it works.

I filed my claim online last month and it was pretty straightforward once I got started. The hardest part was remembering all my employment dates. Tip: if you have old W-2s handy, those make it much easier to get the employer info right.

Just went through this process myself. After you file your initial claim online, you'll get a letter in the mail with your benefit amount and instructions for filing weekly claims. The whole thing is pretty automated once you get it set up. Don't overthink it!

The website can be slow during peak times (like Monday mornings when everyone's filing their weekly claims), so if it's not loading well, try again later in the day or evening. Also make sure you're using an updated browser - the site doesn't work well with old versions of Internet Explorer.

One more thing - if your claim goes into 'adjudication' status, don't panic. It just means they need to verify something about your employment or eligibility. It can take a few weeks but most claims get approved eventually. That's another situation where having a way to reach an ESD agent directly through something like Claimyr might be helpful.

Bottom line: go to secure.esd.wa.gov, create your accounts, file your claim, and then be prepared to file weekly claims every week. It's not as scary as it seems once you get started. You got this!

Just wanted to add one more tip that helped me - before you start filing, write down all your employer information on a piece of paper first. Include company names, addresses, phone numbers, your start/end dates, and your supervisor's name if you remember it. Having it all written out beforehand makes the online form much faster to fill out. Also, if you moved recently, make sure your address is updated in the system since that's where they'll mail important documents. The whole process really isn't as bad as it seems when you're prepared!