Why was my Washington ESD unemployment claim denied - need help understanding

This happened to my brother last year. Sometimes the employer reports it wrong to Washington ESD or there's miscommunication. You need to appeal the denial ASAP - you only have 30 days from the date on the letter.

The 'voluntary quit' classification is usually what happens when there's missing information or the employer's version doesn't match yours. Did you get any documentation when you were laid off? Termination letter, final paycheck stub, anything that shows it was a layoff?

I had a similar issue and spent weeks trying to get through to Washington ESD on the phone. Finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me reach an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ showing how it works. Worth checking out if you can't get through the normal way.

UGH the same thing happened to me!!! Washington ESD is so messed up, they can't even get basic facts right. I was clearly laid off but somehow it got coded as a quit. Took me 3 appeals to get it fixed. The system is broken.

same thing happened to me

For your appeal, you'll want to be very specific about the circumstances of your layoff. Include dates, who told you about the layoff, any witnesses, and emphasize that it was due to lack of work/business reasons, not anything you did wrong.

This is why I always ask for termination letters in writing. Employers 'forget' details when Washington ESD contacts them later. Sorry you're dealing with this mess.

When you file your appeal, also request a phone hearing rather than just a paper review. That way you can explain your side directly to the appeals judge and answer any questions they have.

Also make sure you keep filing your weekly claims while the appeal is pending, even though you're not getting paid. If you win the appeal, you'll get paid for those weeks retroactively.

restaurants are notorious for this stuff. they probably told washington esd you quit because then they don't have to pay higher unemployment taxes. its bs but happens all the time

Just wanted to follow up on the Claimyr thing - I used them again last week to check on a different issue and it worked great. Way better than sitting on hold for hours.

One more thing - when you do talk to Washington ESD, ask them to pull the employer's response to see exactly what they reported. Sometimes it's just a checkbox error on their end, not intentional lying.

I work in HR and see this all the time. Make sure when you appeal that you specifically state you were laid off due to lack of work, not performance issues. That's the key distinction Washington ESD looks for.

dont give up! I know its frustrating but you deserve those benefits if you were laid off. the system is designed to discourage people but stick with it

Check your determination letter carefully too. Sometimes there are multiple reasons listed for denial and you need to address all of them in your appeal, not just the main one.

This exact thing happened to my sister at her retail job. She had to get her former coworkers to write statements saying they all got laid off the same day. Pain in the butt but it worked.

Make sure you file that appeal before the 30 day deadline! That's the most important thing right now. Everything else can be figured out later but if you miss that deadline you're screwed.

I went through this last year and it was a nightmare but I eventually got it sorted out. The key is being persistent and not letting them wear you down. You know what really happened so fight for it.

Document everything from now on - every phone call, every letter, every conversation. If this goes to a hearing you'll want to have a timeline of everything that happened.

Hope you get this resolved soon. It's so stressful when you're already dealing with being unemployed and then Washington ESD makes it worse with their mistakes.