Confused about which unemployment insurance program info is false - help?
I'm studying for a civil service exam and there's this question about unemployment insurance that's got me stumped. It asks 'which of the following is false regarding the unemployment insurance program' but I can't figure out which statement they're looking for. I know the basics - you have to be able and available for work, actively searching, and you get benefits if you're unemployed through no fault of your own. But some of the details about NYS Department of Labor requirements are confusing me. Anyone know what the most commonly misunderstood aspects of the UI program are? I want to make sure I understand what's actually true vs false about how it works.
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Aisha Patel
Common misconceptions include thinking you can collect UI while going to school full-time (usually false), believing you automatically qualify if you quit for any reason (false - must be for good cause), or assuming benefits last indefinitely (false - there's a maximum duration). Also, many people think you don't have to look for work if you're on standby status, but you still need to be able and available. What specific statements were you choosing between?
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Klaus Schmidt
•Those are exactly the kind of details I was confused about! The standby status thing especially - I thought if your employer expects to call you back you don't have to job search at all.
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LilMama23
another big one people get wrong is thinking unemployment benefits are based on your last job's salary - they're actually calculated on your earnings over multiple quarters in your base period
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Dmitri Volkov
If you're having trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor to clarify specific rules, I found claimyr.com really helpful for getting through to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Sometimes talking to a real person helps clear up these policy questions better than trying to interpret the website.
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Gabrielle Dubois
•Wait, so there's actually a service that helps you get through to NYS Department of Labor? I've been trying to call them for weeks about my adjudication issue with no luck.
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Tyrone Johnson
The NYS Department of Labor system is so confusing! I thought if you work part-time while collecting you lose all your benefits but apparently you can still get partial payments? And don't even get me started on the job search requirements - three contacts per week but only certain types count??
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Aisha Patel
•You're right about partial benefits - you can work part-time and still collect reduced UI as long as you earn less than your weekly benefit rate plus $50. The job search contacts do have specific requirements about what counts as valid job search activities.
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