Will my ESD benefits be reduced for DoorDash gig work? Only making $40-50 for 2hrs daily

You're doing the right thing by reporting the income. ESD will deduct part of your earnings from your weekly benefit. In Washington, you can earn up to 1/3 of your weekly benefit amount with no reduction - anything over that gets deducted dollar for dollar. So if your weekly benefit is $950, you can earn about $317 without any reduction. At $40-50 per day, even for just a few days, you might see some reduction. Just make sure you're reporting your gross earnings (before expenses) for the week you worked, not when you got paid.

i got in trouble last year for not reporting ALL my instacart money. they count EVERYTHING including tips!!! they did a qurterly review or something and found out i was making more then i said. had to pay back like $2200 and couldnt get benefits for 6 months. be super careful dude

I'm in the same boat right now! Been doing about 10 hours of Uber Eats weekly while on unemployment. MAKE SURE you're counting your work hours as job search activities too! Each week you have to do 3 job search activities, and working counts as one of those activities. So your 2 hours of DoorDash counts as one activity, but you still need two more. I almost got disqualified because I was working but not recording other job search activities.

Just to add some clarity here: as the others mentioned, you must report ALL earnings (including tips) in the week you WORKED, not when you got paid. For gig work like DoorDash, you're considered self-employed, which means you report gross earnings before expenses. However, this doesn't mean you can't work - many people successfully combine part-time or gig work with unemployment benefits. The 1/3 formula others mentioned is correct - you can earn approximately 1/3 of your weekly benefit amount without reduction. But be aware that you must still be available for full-time work and actively seeking employment for your regular occupation. The DoorDash work shouldn't interfere with your ability to accept suitable full-time employment if offered.

This is WHY i stopped doordashing when on UI! TOO COMPLICATED and not worth the stress. They take most of it away anyway and then you still gotta pay for ur gas. My friend got an overpayment notice for like $4500 cuz he messed up reporting. Not worth it IMO

I had the WORST time trying to get anyone at ESD to explain exactly how to report gig work correctly. Their website is so vague about it! I spent THREE DAYS trying to reach someone by phone and kept getting disconnected or put on endless holds. Finally I discovered Claimyr (claimyr.com) and was able to talk to an actual ESD agent within 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3. The agent explained exactly how to report DoorDash earnings and what documentation to keep in case of an audit.

One more important thing: keep detailed records of WHEN you worked (dates and hours), HOW MUCH you earned (screenshots from the app are good), and be consistent in your reporting. In 2025, ESD is conducting more income verification audits, especially for gig workers. If they determine you've been misreporting (even accidentally), you could face an overpayment situation AND potential disqualification period.

Does anyone know if multi-apping affects how ESD looks at your availability? I sometimes run both DoorDash and UberEats at the same time to maximize earnings during my 2-hour delivery window. Would ESD consider that as working more hours since I'm using two apps, even though I'm only actually delivering for 2 hours total?