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honestly i never thought about any of this until i got laid off from my retail job. turns out unemployment really does help you focus on finding something better instead of just grabbing whatever minimum wage job you can find immediately. gave me time to do some online training and eventually got a better paying position than what i had before
The purpose is also to protect workers from being exploited. If there was no unemployment insurance, employers could treat workers terribly knowing that people would be desperate to keep any job rather than risk having no income at all. Having that safety net gives workers more bargaining power and helps maintain better working conditions across the economy.
Wait, what's the base period thing? I've only been working for 8 months at my current job. Does that mean I wouldn't qualify if I got laid off tomorrow?
The base period is the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters before you file. So if you file in January 2025, your base period would be January-December 2024. You need sufficient wages during that time period to qualify. If you've only worked 8 months, you might still qualify depending on when you started and how much you earned.
The tax thing with unemployment is such BS. Like we're already struggling financially and then they want to tax the measly benefits too. I had to pay back like $600 when I did my taxes because I didn't know about the withholding option.
If you're having trouble reaching someone at NYS Department of Labor to discuss your case, I had good luck using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an actual agent. They handle the calling and waiting for you, which saved me hours of being on hold. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. It was really helpful for getting clarification on my disqualification before I filed my appeal.
same thing happened to my friend except it turned out she accidentally said something wrong when she filed that made it sound like she quit voluntarily. The good news is that if you have proof you were laid off the appeal process usually works in your favor. just make sure you meet that 30 day deadline!
Statiia Aarssizan
I had trouble getting through to the NYS Department of Labor when I needed to set up my unemployment insurance account. Kept getting busy signals and when I did get through, got transferred around. Eventually found this service called Claimyr at claimyr.com that helped me reach an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Made the whole registration process much smoother.
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Reginald Blackwell
•Interesting, never heard of that service. Did they help specifically with the employer registration process or just general NYS Department of Labor contact issues?
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Aria Khan
ugh the whole unemployment tax system is such a pain. why do small businesses have to jump through all these hoops just to hire people?? the paperwork alone is ridiculous
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Sophia Gabriel
•I understand the frustration, but the unemployment insurance fund is what provides benefits to workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. It's an important safety net that requires employer contributions to function.
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