Confused about what is a quarter unemployment in NYS Department of Labor system
I'm trying to figure out what is a quarter unemployment and how it affects my claim. I worked part-time for most of last year and my hours kept changing every few months. When I filed my NYS Department of Labor claim, they mentioned something about base period quarters but I have no idea what that means. Does this affect how much I can get in benefits? I'm really confused about the whole quarter system and whether my scattered work history will hurt my eligibility.
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Evan Kalinowski
A quarter in unemployment terms refers to a 3-month period that NYS Department of Labor uses to calculate your benefits. They look at your wages during specific quarters (like Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, etc.) from your base period to determine your weekly benefit amount. Your base period is usually the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters before you filed. So if you filed in January 2025, they'd look at quarters from Jan 2024 through Sept 2024.
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The Boss
•That makes more sense! So they're not looking at my most recent work? I was wondering why they didn't seem to count my December earnings.
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Victoria Charity
yeah i had the same confusion when i filed, they use those quarters to see if you earned enough to qualify and also to calculate your weekly amount. if you didnt make enough in those 4 quarters you might not be eligible
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Jasmine Quinn
The quarter system can be confusing but it's actually designed to use your most stable employment period. If your recent quarters don't have enough wages, NYS Department of Labor can sometimes use an alternate base period. You can check your wage history on the my.ny.gov website to see exactly what quarters they're using for your claim calculation.
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Oscar Murphy
•I had trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to ask about my base period calculation. If you're having similar issues reaching them, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get connected to an actual agent. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Made it so much easier than trying to call repeatedly.
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Nora Bennett
The whole quarter thing is just another way for them to make the system confusing and deny people benefits! I worked steadily but because my highest earnings were in the wrong quarters according to their arbitrary rules, my weekly amount got cut in half.
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Ryan Andre
•I get the frustration but the quarter system actually helps some people too. When I had a job that paid really well for just a few months, having those wages counted in my base period quarters helped my benefit amount.
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GamerGirl99
@The Boss, don't worry too much about your scattered work history - it might actually work in your favor! The quarter system looks at your highest earning quarters during the base period, so if you had some good months mixed in with the lower ones, those higher earnings will boost your weekly benefit calculation. The key thing is making sure you meet the minimum wage requirements across those 4 quarters. If you're still confused about which specific quarters they're using for your claim, you can request a monetary determination breakdown from NYS Department of Labor that shows exactly how they calculated your benefits.
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Carlos Mendoza
•Thanks @GamerGirl99, that's really helpful to know! I was worried that having inconsistent hours would automatically hurt my case. How do I go about requesting that monetary determination breakdown you mentioned? Is that something I can do online through the my.ny.gov portal or do I need to call them directly?
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