The whole quarterly system is designed to screw workers over if you ask me. Why should some arbitrary calendar quarters determine your benefits instead of just looking at your most recent work history? Makes no sense.

The base period calculation definitely seems confusing at first! One thing that helped me understand it was thinking of it like this: NYS Department of Labor needs time to process all the wage data from employers before they can use it for benefit calculations. That's why they skip the most recent quarter - the wage reports might not be complete yet. Also, don't worry too much about gaps between jobs - what matters is having enough earnings in at least 2 quarters of your base period. If you worked steadily for 18 months, you should be in good shape. You can always call or check online to see what quarters and earnings they have on file for you before filing your claim.

Pro tip: screenshots, screenshots, screenshots. Document EVERYTHING. Save confirmation pages, emails, take pics of faxed documents with the confirmation page. NY unemployment will 100% try to claim they never got your stuff.

I went through this exact same thing 2 months ago! The NY unemployment portal is notorious for not sending confirmation emails after document uploads. Here's what I did that actually worked: 1. Log back into your account and look for a "Document History" or "Submitted Documents" section - sometimes the uploads show there even without email confirmation 2. If you can't find proof they received them, definitely mail physical copies via certified mail as backup 3. Try calling early morning (like 8:01 AM sharp) - that's when I had the best luck getting through 4. Keep detailed records of everything - dates you uploaded, what documents, screenshots if possible The whole system is a mess right now but don't panic. Most people's documents do eventually get processed, it just takes forever and they're terrible at communicating. The fact that you were able to upload through the official link from their email is a good sign. Hang in there! 💪

Restaurant workers always get confused about this because of how tips work. Just remember - if money went in your pocket for work you did that week, it counts as gross earnings. Cash tips, credit card tips, tip pools, everything. And yeah definitely include training pay for the week you actually did the training, not when you got the check.

ugh this is exactly why I hate doing my weekly claims. so much anxiety about getting it wrong and then having to deal with overpayment notices later. at least you got through adjudication - mine's been pending for 6 weeks now

just file asap!!! the sooner you file the sooner you start getting paid. i waited like 2 weeks thinking i might find another job quick and that was stupid because you cant get benefits for those weeks you waited

Welcome to the unemployment world, Jackson! I went through this same thing last year when my restaurant closed down. One thing I wish someone had told me upfront - make sure you have ALL your employment info ready when you apply. They'll need your last employer's address, your supervisor's name, exact dates of employment, and reason for separation. Also, if you worked multiple jobs in the past 18 months, you'll need info for ALL of them since they calculate your benefit amount based on your total earnings during what they call your "base period." The NYS Department of Labor website has a benefit calculator you can use to estimate what you might receive before you even apply.

EVERYONE AFFECTED BY THIS NEEDS TO REPORT IT TO THE STATE COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE!!! If enough of us report this predatory practice, they'll be forced to investigate. I filed a complaint last week and received confirmation they're looking into these "systematic errors" - which I think is just their excuse for trying to squeeze extra money out of desperate people. The more complaints they get, the more pressure there will be to fix it and potentially refund those bogus interest charges to people who paid them out of fear.

This is absolutely infuriating! I'm dealing with the exact same situation right now - got a payment plan set up in February and have been making every single payment on time, then BAM! Last week I get this threatening letter demanding full payment by a date that had already passed when I received it. The interest they're trying to charge is more than my original monthly payment amount! What really gets me is that when I originally called to set up the payment plan, the agent assured me this would resolve everything and there would be no additional fees as long as I kept up with payments. Now they're acting like the payment plan never existed and trying to collect interest that was never disclosed. I'm definitely going to try that Claimyr service and use the specific language about "Payment Plan Validation Review" - thank you to everyone who shared those tips! This whole situation feels like they're deliberately trying to confuse and intimidate people into paying money they may not even owe. How is this legal?