Goal: Unemployment benefits delivered to all Washingtonians who were impacted by COVID-19, are eligible for & want to receive them

Update as of 07/28/2020

Operation 100% started with the goal of resolving or paying all claims for those in adjudication who applied between March 8 and May 1. While we did not hit our goal of June 15, in large part because of the massive fraud attack, we continue to stay laser focused on resolving unpaid claims for everyone – starting with those who have been waiting the longest.

We are resetting our target for Operation 100% to all claims for those who:

• Have applied and haven’t received any payment as of mid-June;
• Have claims stalled for a variety of reasons (not just those in adjudication); and
• Need ESD to act to resolve their claims — as opposed to those who need to take action (for example, submitting a weekly claim).

This new target is set for 81,508 people, including those who were part of the original Operation 100% population. It allows tracking for everyone who hasn’t received payment rather than a smaller subset. Our targets for this populationare:

• The longest-waiting 10,000 applicants resolved by July 6.
• The longest-waiting 33,000 applicants by July 13. 
• All remaining in the baseline total by July 31.

Benefits paid

Progress tracker

Individuals waiting by week

This chart shows how many individuals have been waiting for their claim to be resolved by weeks since they submitted their first weekly claims. 

Glossary of terms

Adjudication – Process of reconciling a discrepancy in information the Employment Security Department has about a person’s claim for unemployment benefits. If your claim is “in adjudication,” it has one or more issues that ESD must review to determine if you are eligible to receive benefits. The issue can be as simple as the name on your claims form not matching the name on your Social-Security card.   

Adjudication response time – The percentage of issues that are resolved within 21 days of detection.

Weekly claim – The information people on unemployment are required to submit to Employment Security every week in order to be paid benefits. Required information includes the person’s earnings for the past week. ESD uses that information to decide if each person is eligible for benefits and how much to pay. People must start submitting weekly claims the first week after they apply for benefits and must continue to submit a claim each week to be paid.

Regular unemployment benefits - Temporary income for workers who lose their job through no fault of their own. The money comes from taxes paid by employers. It does not replace a worker’s total income. The Employment Security Department does not pay benefits based on financial need, but on the reason for being unemployed and how many hours worked in, roughly, the past year.

Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act - A federal program extending unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 crisis, beginning March 2020. The CARES Act includes three separate programs:

• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) - Part of the federal CARES Act that expands benefits to many people who do not qualify for regular unemployment, such as the self- employed, independent contractors, freelance workers, and those who worked less than 680 hours in, roughly, the past year. Available Feb. 2 to Dec. 26, 2020. 
  
  
• Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) - Part of the federal CARES Act that extends benefits for up to 13 weeks after regular unemployment benefits are used up. Available March 29 to Dec. 26, 2020.
  
  
• Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) – An extra $600 per week for everyone on regular unemployment or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), except those on Training Benefits.