FOLLOWUP: If you’ve had trouble applying for newly expanded unemployment benefits…

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

On Saturday, we mentioned the state was about to open applications for newly expanded unemployment benefits, now also covering self-employed people and independent contractors. Saturday night, we noted reports the system was struggling to handle the onslaught. Today, an update from the state Employment Security Department:

Saturday night, April 18, the Employment Security Department launched a massive update of its computer systems to allow for the expansion of unemployment benefits enabled by the Federal CARES Act. Tens of thousands of people have already filed successfully, and thousands continue to do so every hour.

Due to this demand, the sign up and online application systems are experiencing performance issues. Since the beginning of the crisis we have averaged 1.2 million page views in our site. Right now, we are seeing up to 500,000 per hour. The informational areas of the website are holding steady and can address questions people may have.

Since Saturday evening, our teams have been triaging and addressing issues as they arise. We are already seeing the rate of people getting through the process go up every hour, as volumes level out and our technical adjustments take effect.

If customers are having difficulty applying or filing weekly claims, here are a few things to remember:

*You don’t have to apply on Sunday – it is not first-come-first served and there is no risk to funds running out. You can apply anytime.

*Payments are retroactive to your eligibility date. This means that, once you have successfully applied and backdated your start date, your first payment will be for all weeks for which you are eligible.

*Weekly claims can be filed Sunday through Saturday every week. They can also be filed over the automated phone system at: [corrected] 800-318-6022

*E-services is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The busiest times tend to be in the morning. We recommend trying during off hours.

*If you are having difficulty filing your application, please visit our help page

We apologize for the frustration this is causing and ask for Washingtonians’ patience as we roll out these programs. We know people don’t want to have to wait further to get these benefits and are doing everything we can to improve the performance and access.

Matt P April 19, 2020 (8:24 pm)

Site is working fine now. Able to apply for my weekly benefits in about 5 minutes just a few minutes ago.

Yma April 19, 2020 (10:44 pm)

Matt P you must’ve hit the jackpot. I’ve been trying to file since noon. It’s now 10:42. Site was never working fine.
IT crowd April 20, 2020 (7:11 am)

Which web browser did you use?
Mom big April 20, 2020 (8:22 am)

This is BS the site won’t load a single page any time of the day at the moment. Timed out timed out timed out.

Sue Luke April 19, 2020 (9:07 pm)

WSB: please correct this paragraph–*Weekly claims can be filed Sunday through Saturday every week. They can also be filed over the automated phone system at: 866?

WSB April 19, 2020 (9:22 pm)

This is directly as sent by the state. Not my words. (ETA) I didn’t catch the missing phone # – will hunt it down!

Dwc April 19, 2020 (10:05 pm)

So has it went into effect where people who don’t have enough passed income to file. I’ve only worked for the past 6 months. I’m 19. They told me I needed to wait until the new unemployment passed

HS April 20, 2020 (12:16 pm)

Dwc, I’m not exactly sure that I’m answering the question you were asking – traditionally you had to have worked 680 to qualify to receive unemployment. The new unemployment legislation expands unemployment so people who worked part time (less than 680 hours), self employed and gig works can all now qualify for unemployment. In addition, there is a federal stimulus of $600 to help replace income. It may be that you needed to wait until 4/18 to file. Try again now.