Can I work extra hours in December and still collect NY unemployment for 1 day in January?

Yes, you can definitely report your additional hours each week during certification without saying you've returned to work. The system is designed to handle fluctuating hours. Just make sure you accurately report your gross earnings each week before deductions. Your benefits will be reduced or eliminated for weeks you earn above the threshold, but your claim stays open for when your hours decrease again in January. The key is being honest about your earnings each week. As long as you're not saying you earned $0 when you actually worked, you're good. Your claim remains open for 52 weeks from when you first filed.

Make sure you calculate your weekly earnings carefully! I worked extra hours last Christmas season and messed up my reporting. The system flagged me for inconsistencies and I had my payments delayed while they investigated. What a nightmare to deal with during the holidays! I finally got through to an agent using Claimyr (claimyr.com) - they got me connected to a rep in about 20 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. There's a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE. The agent explained I should report gross earnings for the week I WORKED, not when I got paid. Saved me from having to pay back benefits.

The DOL considers you to have "returned to work" only if you're back to working FULL TIME permanently. Temporary extra hours doesn't count as "returning to work" - so keep answering NO to that question as long as it's just for December. If you answer YES to "have you returned to work" they'll close your entire claim!!! Then you'd have to file a whole new claim in January when your hours go back down. Just be super accurate about reporting how many hours you worked and how much you earned each week. Your benefit payment will automatically adjust based on what you report - might be $0 for those weeks you work more hours. That's normal.

my sister had this EXACT situation last year and they ended up saying she committed FRAUD because she kept certifying during december when she was working extra hours but then in january she started collecting again when hours went back down. took MONTHS to fix and she almost got a penalty. be carful!!

I work seasonal retail and my hours go up and down all the time. Just keep certifying every week no matter what, and be honest about your hours. don't overthink it. the system is designed for this exact situation. i went from 15 hrs to 38 hrs back to 12 hrs in three months and had no issues as long as i reported everything correctly.

I had a similar situation last year. Just want to add that in NY, you can work up to 4 days per week and still potentially get some benefits, depending on how much you earn each day. If you work more than 4 days OR earn more than your benefit rate plus the $200 earning cap (in 2025), your benefit for that week would be $0. But here's what no one mentioned yet: Even during weeks you don't receive benefits because of working too many hours, those weeks STILL COUNT toward your total benefit weeks! So if you had 26 weeks of benefits available, and you work full-time for 4 weeks in December (getting $0 in benefits those weeks), you'd only have 22 weeks left. Just something to be aware of if you're trying to stretch your benefits.

make sure ur reporting gross pay not net pay!! thats wut gets most ppl in trouble

One last thing - just be prepared that your benefit amount might be drastically reduced or eliminated during those December weeks depending on how much you earn. New York uses the following formula: For each day you work, your weekly benefit rate is reduced by 25%. Plus, if you earn more than $200, any amount over $200 further reduces your weekly benefit. So if you're working 5 days a week in December, you'd get $0 for those weeks regardless of how much you earn. But that's okay - your claim stays open and when you go back to working 4 days in January, you'll start receiving partial benefits again for that 1 day you're not working.

Wow I didn't know you could be collecting unemployment while working at all?? I thought once you get a job even part time you're done with unemployment. the whole system makes zero sense to me 🤦‍♂️