Can you do Instacart while on unemployment benefits in NY?
I've been collecting unemployment for about 6 weeks now and things are getting tight financially. A friend suggested I could make some extra money doing Instacart shopping on weekends, but I'm worried this might mess up my benefits. Does anyone know if you can do gig work like Instacart while collecting from NYS Department of Labor? Do I need to report this income when I file my weekly claims? I don't want to accidentally get in trouble or have to pay back money later.
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Zainab Ibrahim
Yes, you can work while on unemployment but you MUST report ALL income on your weekly certification. This includes gig work like Instacart. NYS Department of Labor allows you to earn up to a certain amount before they start reducing your benefits. For 2025, you can earn up to $504 per week before any deduction. Anything over that gets deducted dollar-for-dollar from your weekly benefit amount. The key is being honest about every penny you earn.
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Miguel Castro
•Thanks! So if I made like $200 doing Instacart one week, I'd still get my full unemployment check? And I just report it when I do my weekly claim?
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Zainab Ibrahim
•Exactly. As long as you stay under $504 for the week, your UI benefits won't be reduced. Just make sure to report the gross earnings (before taxes) when you certify each week.
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Connor O'Neill
be super careful with this stuff... my cousin got caught not reporting uber income and had to pay back like $8000 in overpayments. NYS Department of Labor has access to all kinds of records now so they will find out eventually
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Miguel Castro
•Yikes, that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid! I definitely plan to report everything, just wanted to make sure it was allowed.
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LunarEclipse
I've been doing DoorDash while on unemployment and it's been fine as long as I report it. One thing to watch out for - make sure you're still available for full-time work. If you're doing gig work during normal business hours, that could be a problem for your job search requirements. I only do deliveries in the evenings and weekends to avoid any issues with availability.
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Yara Khalil
•This is a good point. I had a friend who got questioned during an adjudication because she was doing Uber during the day when she should have been available for interviews.
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Keisha Brown
the whole system is ridiculous if you ask me. they want you to find work but then penalize you for actually working. makes no sense!
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Paolo Esposito
If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to ask questions about reporting gig work, I recently discovered this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helps you actually reach a real person at the unemployment office. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. I used it last month when I had questions about my adjudication and finally got answers after weeks of trying to call myself.
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Miguel Castro
•Interesting, I'll check that out. The phone lines are always busy when I try to call.
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Amina Toure
yeah you can work just dont go over the limit or they take it away dollar for dollar which sucks
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Brian Downey
Just want to add that when you do report your Instacart earnings, make sure you're tracking your expenses too (gas, car maintenance, etc.) for tax purposes. The income you report to NYS DOL should be your gross earnings before expenses, but you'll want those expense records when tax time comes around since you'll likely be filing as a 1099 contractor. Also, keep detailed records of what you earned each week - screenshots of your Instacart earnings, dates, amounts. This will make your weekly certifications much easier and protect you if there are ever any questions later.
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Owen Devar
•This is really helpful advice about keeping detailed records! I hadn't thought about the tax implications yet. Quick question - when you say report gross earnings to DOL, does that mean before Instacart takes their service fee, or after? Like if a customer paid $50 for groceries and Instacart paid me $35 after their cut, do I report $50 or $35?
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