Most of the time, quitting your job means just that - you’ve quit, and you give up all benefits, entitlements, and claims on that job. In Washington State, however, that might not necessarily be the case. What is this madness, and how can you take advantage of it?
Here are Five Fast Facts on unemployment benefits in Washington State:
- 📝 Define It - Most people understand unemployment benefits as temporary help after you lose your job through no fault of your own. In the Evergreen State, you can also get unemployment benefits if you quit…for a good reason. Isn’t that a bit like having the fox guard the chicken coop?
- 🤔 What Reasons - Washington state law says “good” reasons include things like quitting to take another job offer that falls through, illness or disability, having your pay or hours reduced by at least 25%, and any number of others. Pretty much everything except “I’m a lazy slug.”
- 🤷 If You Insist - Setting aside the actual merits of this law, the fact is that it IS state law. So, if you find yourself quitting for any non-slug reasons, what should you do? Start with applying for unemployment (here) or by calling 800-318-6022. Make sure you get your Social Security, name, citizenship, and other key info correct. Since you’re not lazy, this shouldn’t be an issue for you.
- 📅 What You’ll Need - Part of the application will include validation of your claim. This includes things like past work history and employer contacts, dates of employment, and your bank account info.
- 👏 Keep It Going - If your application is approved, you’ll start getting state unemployment money. The max weekly amount is $929, but that’s based on how much you were making before. There’s no set time limit, either, but it caps out when you hit either 26 times the max weekly amount or ⅓ of your gross income while you still had your job. You will have to show that you’re actively looking for a job each week to get those checks. This is probably where the lazy slugs fail to keep up.
🔥Bottom line: Whether this law is a good idea is certainly up for debate. But…until it gets changed, this is the law so you might as well take advantage of it! Anyone who’s been without a job (for any reason) knows how critical it is to keep at least some income rolling in while you get back on your feet. This is one way to do that.
What do you think of this law?
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