Can you make money while on unemployment benefits in NY - what are the limits?

Wait so I can keep both incomes? That's actually better than I thought! Do I report gross or net income from the freelance work?

Yikes! Did you end up having to pay it all back? That's exactly what I'm worried about.

yeah i had to pay it back but they let me set up a payment plan. took forever to resolve though

This is so confusing! So if my benefit is $400 and I earn $600 in a week, I get nothing that week but I can still claim the next week if I earn less?

Exactly! Your claim doesn't close just because you had one high-earning week. You just don't get unemployment for that specific week.

I had the same problem until someone told me about Claimyr. It's a service that calls NYS Department of Labor for you and gets you connected to an actual agent. I used it last month at claimyr.com and got through in like 20 minutes instead of hours. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Totally worth it when you need real answers about your specific situation.

What ended up happening with your Uber situation? Did they make you pay anything back?

Wait, this is really important information that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else! So even if I'm just working on a project but haven't earned any money yet that week, I still need to report the work days? This seems like something that could easily trip people up. Do you know if there's a specific threshold for hours per day that counts as a "work day"? I'm worried I might have already messed this up in my previous claims since I've been doing some preliminary design work that I haven't invoiced for yet.

@QuantumQuasar you're right to be concerned about this! The "work day" reporting is super tricky and not well explained. From what I understand, any day you perform work that will eventually result in income counts as a work day, even if it's just an hour. So if you spent Monday morning sketching concepts and Tuesday afternoon coding, that's 2 work days even if you haven't invoiced yet. The key is being consistent going forward - definitely report any future work days accurately. For the past claims where you might have missed this, you could contact NYS DOL to clarify, but honestly their phone system is such a nightmare that it might not be worth the stress unless they specifically audit your claim. Just make sure you're reporting everything correctly from now on!

@QuantumQuasar You're right to be concerned about this! From what I understand, any work you do - even preparatory work like design mockups or client consultations - counts as work activity that needs to be reported. NYS DOL doesn't have a specific hourly threshold published, but generally if you do any work-related activity on a given day, that counts as a work day. The key is being transparent about ALL work activity, not just completed paid work. If you're worried about past claims, you might want to contact them proactively to clarify rather than wait for an audit. Better to address it upfront than get hit with an overpayment later like @Grant Vikers mentioned.

@QuantumQuasar You're right to be concerned about this! From what I understand, NY doesn't have a specific hour threshold - any day you do work for pay (even just an hour) counts as a work day. The key question on the weekly claim asks "Did you work or earn money?" So even unpaid prep work for a freelance project could technically count. I'd suggest calling the unemployment office to clarify your specific situation, especially if you've already filed claims without reporting work days. It's better to get ahead of this now than deal with an overpayment notice later. @Camila Jordan - thanks for bringing this up, this is exactly the kind of detail that trips people up!

@QuantumQuasar You're right to be concerned about this! From what I understand, NYS considers any day where you perform work (regardless of hours) as a work day that needs to be reported. There isn't really a specific hourly threshold - even a couple hours of freelance work technically counts as working that day. The good news is that if you realize you made mistakes on previous claims, you can contact NYS DOL to correct them voluntarily before they find the discrepancies during an audit. It's much better to self-report errors than to have them discover it later. @Camila Jordan - thanks for bringing this up, I had no idea about the work days vs earnings distinction!

@QuantumQuasar You're right to be concerned about this! From what I understand, any day where you perform work activities - even unpaid preparation, client meetings, or working on deliverables - should be reported as a work day. There isn't a specific hour threshold that I'm aware of, but the key is that you did work-related activities on that day. I'd strongly recommend calling the Department of Labor (or using that Claimyr service @Libby Hassan mentioned to) clarify your specific situation and potentially correct any previous claims if needed. It s'better to proactively address this than wait for them to catch it during an audit. The good news is that if you self-report the correction, they re'usually more lenient than if they discover unreported work days on their own.

@QuantumQuasar You should definitely look into this ASAP! From what I understand, any day you perform work activities - even unpaid prep work - can count as a work day. I think it's based on whether you did any work-related activities that day, not a specific hour threshold. You might want to contact NYS Department of Labor directly to clarify your situation and potentially amend any previous claims where you didn't report work days. It's better to be proactive about this than wait for them to discover it during an audit. @Camila Jordan - do you know if there s'a way to correct previous weekly claims if someone realizes they under-reported work days?

@QuantumQuasar You're right to be concerned about this! From what I understand, any day where you do any work at all (even just an hour) counts as a "work day" that needs to be reported. There isn't really a minimum hour threshold - if you worked, you worked. The key is being completely transparent with NYS DOL. If you think you might have under-reported work days in previous claims, I'd honestly recommend calling them (or using that Claimyr service someone mentioned) to ask about how to correct it. It's much better to be proactive about fixing mistakes than to have them discover it later during an audit. They're usually more lenient if you come forward voluntarily rather than them finding discrepancies on their own.

@QuantumQuasar You should definitely look into this ASAP! From what I understand, any day you do ANY work (even 1 hour) counts as a work day that needs to be reported. The NYS Department of Labor website mentions this under their "partial unemployment" section, but it's buried in the details. I'd strongly recommend calling them directly or using that Claimyr service someone mentioned earlier to get clarification on your specific situation. If you've been doing unpaid prep work and not reporting those days, you might want to get ahead of it before they potentially audit your claim. Better to be proactive than deal with an overpayment notice later!

@QuantumQuasar You should definitely contact NYS Department of Labor ASAP to clarify your previous claims if you think you might have under-reported work days. From what I understand, any day you do work related to earning income counts as a work day, regardless of hours - even if it's just 30 minutes. The key is that you're performing services that will eventually result in payment. For freelance work, this can include planning, designing, client meetings, etc. I'd recommend calling them directly or using that Claimyr service @Libby Hassan mentioned to get proper guidance on how to handle any corrections needed. It s'better to proactively address this than wait for them to catch it during an audit.