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If you're having trouble reaching someone at NYS Department of Labor to get a definitive answer about your specific situation, I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. It was really helpful when I couldn't get through the regular phone lines to ask about my eligibility questions.
Wait I'm confused - I thought they used your total annual earnings? My cousin said they look at everything you made in the past year and divide by 52 weeks. That's not right?
Just went through this last month. One thing to watch out for is if you had any gaps in employment or if you're seasonal - that can affect your base period and you might not qualify for the full amount even if your highest quarter looks good. Also make sure all your employers reported your wages correctly because I had to dispute mine when one job didn't report properly.
Whatever you do don't lie to them! They will find out and then you'll be in even worse trouble. I know someone who tried to hide why they got fired and they ended up having to pay back all their benefits plus penalties.
NYS Department of Labor sees this stuff all the time unfortunately. Performance issues vs misconduct is a big distinction for them. Like if you were late all the time or refused to do your job that's misconduct. But if they're saying you weren't meeting metrics or productivity standards, that's usually not considered misconduct that would disqualify you. The safety complaint angle might actually strengthen your case if you can show the timeline of when you made complaints vs when the 'performance issues' started being documented.
For most people it's about 2-3 weeks total if there are no complications. Week 1 is filing and waiting for determination, Week 2 is your unpaid waiting week where you still need to certify weekly, Week 3 is when you should see your first payment if everything is approved. The important thing is to keep certifying every week even if you haven't been paid yet, and make sure you're doing your job search requirements from day one.
Raj Gupta
I'm in the same boat with highest unemployment in my area and getting anxious about when my claim will be approved. What if they're prioritizing other regions? What if there's not enough funding allocated to areas like ours? Should I be doing something else while I wait?
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Carlos Mendoza
•NYS Department of Labor doesn't prioritize claims by geographic region or unemployment rates. Funding is distributed statewide, not by county unemployment levels. Just make sure you're filing your weekly claims even while your initial claim is pending.
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Lena Müller
The whole system is overwhelmed everywhere regardless of local unemployment rates! I've been dealing with NYS Department of Labor for months and it's the same story - delays, busy phone lines, unclear status updates. Areas with highest unemployment probably just have more people calling the same overloaded system.
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TechNinja
•exactly this ^
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