Will my husband's short-term return to work affect his ESD unemployment when laid off again?

Your husband can absolutely go back to claiming on his existing claim when he's laid off again! This is actually pretty common for seasonal and construction workers. When he starts working again, he'll just stop filing weekly claims. Then when he's laid off after the short assignment, he'll resume filing his weekly claims and report any earnings from those 1-2 weeks. Since his claim is already open and active, there won't be another waiting week. The claim stays open for a full year (his benefit year), though the total benefit amount is fixed. Just make sure he reports ALL earnings during those 1-2 weeks accurately.

I went thru this EXACT situation last month with my electrical union job!! Was on unemployment for 3 weeks, got called for a 2-week job, then back on unemployment. Here's what I learned the hard way - when ur husband gets laid off again, he should file his weekly claim IMMEDIATELY that Sunday, don't wait!! And when he files, he'll need to report his earnings for the days he worked that week (if any). The ESD system lets you restart benefits pretty easily as long as it's within the same benefit year. Just make sure he keeps track of EXACTLY what days he worked and earned $$ during that short job. The system will ask!

hey its also important he knows that if he works partial weeks when transitioning back to unemployment he has to report earnings for those specific days. ESD calculates partial benefits day by day not just weekly. If hes laid off mid-week hell get partial benefits for the days he didnt work but only if he reports everything right. my boyfriend messed this up and had to pay back like $800

Everyone's giving good advice but missing a CRUCIAL detail. When your husband goes back to work, he should enter standby status on his LAST claim before working (if he knows he'll be laid off again soon). Standby basically tells ESD you'll return to your employer within 8 weeks so you don't have to do job search requirements. Without standby status, when he files again after the short job, they MIGHT make him do 3 job searches each week even though he's expecting to return to the union. The system is SUPER ANNOYING about this. I got denied benefits for 2 weeks because I didn't understand the standby rules for construction workers.

Just to add a bit more detail to what others have said - your husband is experiencing what ESD calls "partial unemployment" which is super common in construction and seasonal work. When he works those 1-2 weeks, he'll either temporarily stop filing (if working full weeks) OR report earnings for partial weeks. Then when laid off again, he simply resumes filing weekly claims. There's no need to reapply or reopen the claim as long as it's within the same benefit year. The system is actually designed for this exact situation. Just make sure he answers the question about being a member of a full referral union correctly, as that exempts him from job search requirements.

If hes having trouble getting through to ESD to ask about this (which is likely lol) try Claimyr.com - it helped me actually reach an ESD agent when I had a similar question about going back and forth between short jobs. They have this system that calls ESD for you and gets you in the queue without you having to keep redialing. Saved me hours of frustration. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3

make sure he dosent forget to file on time when he starts again! if he misses the week after getting laid off again he might have to call them to reactivate and thats a huge pain

By the way, I'm pretty sure he'll need to report which union hall he's registered with. I think there's a specific part in the weekly claim for that. It's been a few months since I had to do this but I remember you have to put your local number somewhere.