Losing your job is one of the most stressful events in life. Navigating unemployment under that level of stress is extremely frustrating and daunting for everyone. The online account system isn’t very intuitive. The phone lines to the Employment Security Department have 40 minute average hold times, even after 1/3 of all calls get the high call volume message and disconnect, and the other 1/3 are abandoned by the caller due to excessive hold time. The website and the Unemployed Workers Handbook only provide so much, and often you really need clarification on a multitude of issues and long term access to someone who can get you information on policy and processes.
Reddit.com/UnemploymentWA has a living library of over 5,000 pages of material. The most often requested information is available in compilation posts that are essentially self-help.
Because unemployment is so complex and so much of the information from ESD is generic or lacking, there is a treasure trove of helpful guides and step-by-step explanations of how process or state law affect certain eligibility conditions.
You can view all of the information without a Reddit account, which is free. Reddit is a social media platform with robust rule enforcement. Contacting or interacting with the moderator and content creator requires an account, which is a simple process. You can create public posts, or you can ask the creator questions in private by using chat, direct message, or moderator mail.
The moderator has an average response time significantly less than the lowest hold time for calling ESD. ESD regularly gets around 30,000 phone calls per month. The Reddit community rarely sees less that 40,000 unique visitors per month.
Access to all the information, trouble-ticket style handling on inbound questions, follow ups, long term conversations and relationships, and help with initial eligibility statements and initial appeal preparation cost…. nothing. It’s just one person and they are a savagely dedicated volunteer. They also vet and refer clients to legal services including WEBA. Also for free.
Your question has likely been asked in the last week of posts. And your question probably has its own section in the living library, The Roadmap.
You can scroll the recent posts or look in the Roadmap, or simply ask a question and the moderator and content creator will find it in the library for you.
As a team and individually, WEBA and our partners want to help you understand how best to support your case for eligibility. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.
You are worth it.