Will working Uber Eats delivery (1099 income) disqualify me from ESD unemployment benefits?

You can work part-time while on unemployment, including gig work, but you MUST report ALL earnings for the week you WORKED (not when you get paid). ESD will deduct a portion of your earnings from your weekly benefit. If you earn more than your weekly benefit amount, you won't receive benefits for that week, but you won't lose your claim entirely.\n\nThe key thing is reporting accurately each week. They'll ask if you worked, and you say yes and report your gross earnings (before expenses). Keep detailed records of each day worked and how much you earned - Uber should provide this info.

Thanks for explaining this. So even though it's 1099 work, as long as I report everything correctly each week, my claim stays open? I'm just worried about them suddenly saying I'm self-employed and canceling my whole claim.

i did doordash last year while on ui and it was fine just make sure u put in the EXACT amounts u make each day dont round up or down at all

That's good to hear someone did this successfully! Did you have to provide any proof of your earnings or did they just take your word for it when you reported?

BE CAREFUL! I started doing Instacart while on unemployment and ESD flagged my account for

Oh no, that's exactly what I'm afraid of! Did you have trouble getting through to anyone at ESD to explain your situation during those 8 weeks?

YES it was impossible to reach anyone! I called literally hundreds of times. The online message system was useless too - they never responded to any of my messages explaining the situation.

when i was on ui i did amazon flex sometimes and had no problems but my friend did uber and they cut him off for being \

You can definitely work part-time gig jobs while on unemployment, but there are some important technical details to understand:\n\n1. You must report all earnings in the week you PERFORM the work, not when you get paid.\n\n2. ESD has an earnings deduction formula: they deduct 75% of your earnings from your weekly benefit amount. So if your weekly benefit is $700 and you earn $200 from Uber Eats, they'll deduct $150 (75% of $200), leaving you with $550 in benefits plus your $200 in earnings.\n\n3. The key distinction is whether this is ongoing self-employment or temporary gig work. Be very clear when reporting that this is temporary part-time work while you continue to look for regular employment.\n\n4. Continue doing your required 3 job search activities each week and documenting them properly.\n\n5. If your claim does get flagged for adjudication, don't panic. This happens often with gig work, but if you're being honest about your earnings, you'll eventually get everything sorted out.

Thank you for the detailed explanation! That formula is helpful to understand. I definitely will make it clear this is temporary work while I'm searching for a permanent position. I'm still worried about the adjudication thing though. What happens if I can't get through to explain my situation?

I tried for TWO MONTHS to get through to ESD when my claim got flagged for doing DoorDash part-time. Called hundreds of times, always got the \

That's good to know! I'll keep that in mind if I end up needing to call them. Did the agent you finally spoke with resolve your issue in that one call?

Yes! The agent was able to see that I had been properly reporting my DoorDash income each week and removed the adjudication flag during that call. My payments resumed the next week.

I think the key is whether Uber Eats is your primary source of income or just something you do on the side while looking for regular work. If you're still actively seeking full-time employment and doing your required job search activities each week, and the Uber Eats work is just occasional/part-time, that seems to be the difference between them considering you \

That makes sense. I'm definitely still focused on finding a regular full-time job, this would just be to supplement my income in the meantime.

One more important piece of advice - keep extremely detailed records of your Uber Eats work. Screenshot your earnings summaries each day you work. If ESD ever audits your claim (which they randomly do), you'll need to provide proof of exactly what you reported.\n\nAlso, be aware that at tax time, both ESD and Uber will report your income to the IRS. If there are discrepancies between what you reported to ESD and what shows up on your 1099, ESD could determine you committed fraud and demand repayment of benefits plus penalties. So accurate reporting is absolutely crucial.

This is really helpful advice. I'll definitely keep detailed records if I decide to go ahead with this. After reading all the responses, I think I might start with just a few hours a week to see how it affects my benefits before committing to more hours.

Just to add my final experience - once I got through the adjudication period, I was able to continue doing Instacart part-time without further issues. The initial flag was stressful but after that was cleared up, the weekly reporting system worked fine as long as I was careful to report accurately. So if you do decide to do Uber Eats, just be prepared for possible initial complications but know it can work out.

Thanks for sharing your full experience. It's helpful to know that even if there are initial issues, it can work out in the end. I think I'll give it a try but start very part-time.

Just wanted to add one more tip that helped me - when you report your Uber Eats earnings each week, make sure you're reporting the gross amount BEFORE any expenses like gas or car maintenance. ESD wants to know your total earnings from the work, not your net profit after expenses. You can deduct those expenses on your taxes later, but for unemployment reporting purposes, always use the gross amount that Uber shows you earned. Also, if you have a week where you signed up to drive but didn't get any orders or chose not to accept any, you still need to answer "yes" to the question about looking for work that week, but you'd report $0 in earnings. Just being available to work counts as work-seeking activity.

I'm in a similar situation and have been hesitant to start any gig work because of all the conflicting information out there. Reading through everyone's experiences here is really helpful - it sounds like the key is being super accurate with reporting and keeping detailed records. One question I have is about the timing of reporting. If I work Uber Eats on a Sunday but don't get paid until the following Tuesday, do I report those earnings for the week I worked (the week with Sunday) or the week I got paid? I want to make sure I get this right from the start to avoid any flags on my account. Also, has anyone had experience with ESD asking for additional documentation about gig work income beyond just the weekly reporting? I'm wondering if I should be prepared to provide screenshots or other proof upfront.