Can child support be taken from unemployment benefits - NYS Department of Labor deductions?
I just started receiving unemployment benefits from NYS Department of Labor and I'm wondering if they can take child support payments directly from my weekly claim amount? I owe back support and want to know if this will affect my UI payments. Does anyone know how this works with the unemployment system?
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AstroAce
Yes, child support can definitely be deducted from your unemployment benefits. NYS Department of Labor is required to withhold court-ordered child support from UI payments. The deduction happens automatically once the support enforcement office notifies them.
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Ethan Clark
•Do you know what percentage they can take? I'm already struggling to make ends meet on the unemployment amount.
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Yuki Kobayashi
They can take up to 60% of your unemployment benefits for child support if you're not supporting another family, or 50% if you are supporting a spouse or other children. This is federal law that applies to all unemployment benefits including NYS Department of Labor payments.
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Carmen Vega
•wow thats a lot, didnt know they could take that much from unemployment
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Andre Rousseau
I've been dealing with this exact situation! My weekly claim gets reduced automatically and it shows up on my payment history in the my.ny.gov portal. The worst part is trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor to ask questions about it - their phone lines are always busy and I can never reach an actual person.
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Zoe Stavros
•Have you tried using Claimyr? I found out about it recently at claimyr.com and they actually got me through to a NYS Department of Labor agent when I needed to discuss my benefit calculations. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Might be worth checking out if you need to talk to someone about your support deductions.
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Andre Rousseau
•Thanks for the suggestion! I'll definitely look into that because I really need to understand how they're calculating my deductions.
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Jamal Harris
just to add my experience here - when i was on unemployment last year they started taking support payments about 3 weeks after my claim was approved. apparently it takes time for the systems to communicate with each other but once it starts the deduction is automatic every week
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GalaxyGlider
This is so unfair! How are we supposed to survive when they take most of our benefits for back support? The whole system is broken.
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AstroAce
•I understand the frustration, but child support obligations don't disappear when you're unemployed. The deductions are meant to ensure children continue receiving support even when the paying parent is between jobs.
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NebulaNomad
If you're concerned about the deduction amount, you might want to contact your local child support enforcement office to discuss a payment plan modification. Sometimes they can work with you to adjust the amount being taken from your unemployment benefits, especially if you can demonstrate financial hardship. You can also request that they leave you with enough to cover basic living expenses - there are usually minimum amounts they have to leave you with. Document everything and keep records of all your communications with both the child support office and NYS Department of Labor.
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KylieRose
•This is really helpful advice! I didn't know you could request a modification or ask them to leave minimum amounts for living expenses. Do you know what the typical minimum they have to leave you with is? I'm worried about not being able to pay rent if they take too much from my unemployment benefits.
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