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The system is broken regardless of who's in office! I've been waiting 2 months for my appeal hearing and they keep rescheduling. NYS Department of Labor doesn't care about us regular people trying to survive.
File now! I was in retail management for years and the benefits calculation includes your base pay plus averaged tips if they were reported. Don't assume you won't qualify for a decent amount. Plus unemployment gives you time to find a GOOD job instead of just taking the first thing that comes along. The job search requirements are pretty reasonable - usually 3 contacts per week and they accept online applications.
If you're having trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor to set up tax withholding, I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an agent quickly. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. I was able to update my withholding preferences the same day instead of waiting weeks to get through on the phone.
The tax thing is frustrating but you can also just set aside money yourself if you don't want to reduce your weekly payments. I put about 15% of each payment into a separate savings account for taxes. That way I have the full amount when I need it and don't have to stress about owing money I don't have.
this whole NYS Department of Labor system is a JOKE. took me 6 months to get my initial claim approved and now the weekly filing doesn't even work half the time. how are people supposed to survive when they make it this hard to get your benefits??
Lucas Schmidt
whatever you do dont mention the tardiness thing when you apply just say you were laid off or something
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Samuel Robinson
•That's terrible advice. Being dishonest on your unemployment application is fraud and can result in serious penalties including having to pay back benefits and potential criminal charges. Always be truthful with NYS Department of Labor.
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Freya Collins
Same boat here - got canned last month for 'performance issues' but really think my supervisor just didn't like me. Still waiting to hear back from my claim. The whole system is so stressful when you're already dealing with job loss.
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