Can you collect unemployment if you have a side business - NYS Department of Labor rules?

You can absolutely collect unemployment with a side business, but you MUST report all income when you file your weekly claims. NYS Department of Labor allows you to earn up to a certain amount before it affects your benefits. For 2025, you can earn up to $504 per week before any deductions are made from your unemployment payment. Anything over that gets deducted dollar-for-dollar from your weekly benefit amount.

just be honest about everything when you file your weekly claims. i had a part time job while collecting and as long as you report it they dont care. the online system will calculate everything for you automatically

The key thing is you have to be available for full-time work. If your side business prevents you from accepting a full-time job, that could be an issue. But if it's just freelance work you do in your spare time, you should be fine. Make sure you're still doing your required job search activities - that's usually 3 work search contacts per week for NYS Department of Labor.

I had a nightmare trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor when I had questions about reporting my Uber income. Spent hours on hold just to get disconnected. Finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual agent in like 20 minutes. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Totally worth it when you need to talk to someone about these kinds of income reporting questions.

Whatever you do, DON'T try to hide the income. They cross-reference with tax records and if they catch you not reporting income, they'll hit you with an overpayment and possibly fraud charges. I've seen people get in serious trouble for not reporting even small amounts.

same situation here! i have a small etsy shop and was worried about the same thing. turns out as long as youre looking for full time work and report everything honestly its no problem at all

I'm in a similar boat - just started collecting unemployment last week and have been stressing about my small tutoring side business. Reading through these responses is super reassuring! One thing I learned from my caseworker is that you also need to keep good records of your freelance income in case they ever audit your claim. I've been tracking everything in a simple spreadsheet with dates, client names, and amounts earned. Also wanted to add that the $504 threshold Hannah mentioned can change year to year, so it's worth double-checking the current amount on the NYS DOL website when you file your weekly claims.

Great thread everyone! Just wanted to add that when you're reporting your freelance income on the weekly claims, make sure you report it for the week you actually EARNED it, not when you got paid. So if you completed a project on Tuesday but didn't get paid until the following week, you report that income for the week you did the work. This tripped me up initially because I was reporting based on when payments hit my bank account. Also, if you have any business expenses related to your freelance work (like software subscriptions, supplies, etc.), you can usually deduct those from your reported income - but definitely verify this with NYS DOL since rules can be specific about what qualifies as legitimate business expenses.