Does unemployment pay child support - NYS Department of Labor deduction question
I just got approved for unemployment benefits after being laid off from my warehouse job last month. I have a court-ordered child support payment of $320 per week that gets taken out of my paycheck normally. Now that I'm collecting UI benefits from NYS Department of Labor, I'm confused about how this works. Will they automatically deduct my child support from my weekly unemployment payments? My ex is already texting me asking where this week's payment is and I don't know what to tell her. The amount I'm getting is $405 per week before taxes, so there should be enough to cover it. Has anyone dealt with this before?
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Sofia Peña
Yes, NYS Department of Labor will automatically deduct court-ordered child support from your unemployment benefits. The state has an agreement with the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) that handles child support enforcement. When you filed your UI claim, the system should have flagged your Social Security number if you have an active support order. The deduction usually starts within 1-2 weeks of your first payment. You should contact the child support enforcement unit at 1-888-208-4485 to verify they have your current claim information.
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Hunter Hampton
•Thank you! That's a relief. Should I call them or will it just happen automatically? I don't want to get in trouble with the court.
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Aaron Boston
same thing happened to me when i got unemployment last year. took about 2 weeks before they started taking the child support out. in the meantime i had to make the payments myself or my ex would have filed contempt of court charges. definitely call the child support office to make sure they know about your UI benefits
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Hunter Hampton
•Did you have to do anything special to set it up or did NYS Department of Labor handle everything?
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Aaron Boston
•nys department of labor handled it automatically but i still called to confirm. better safe than sorry with child support stuff
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Sophia Carter
I had issues with this exact situation. NYS Department of Labor is supposed to automatically withhold child support from unemployment benefits, but there can be delays in the system communication. If you're worried about missing payments, I'd recommend making the payment yourself for the first week or two until the automatic deduction kicks in. You can also log into your my.ny.gov account and check if there are any withholding notices listed under your claim details. The child support will show up as a deduction along with taxes on your payment history.
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Hunter Hampton
•Good idea about checking my.ny.gov. I'll look for that withholding notice tonight.
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Chloe Zhang
If you're having trouble getting through to anyone at NYS Department of Labor or the child support office, there's a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that can help you get connected to actual agents. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. I used it when I needed to talk to someone about my claim status and it saved me hours of calling. Might be worth trying if you need to get this child support thing sorted out quickly.
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Brandon Parker
•Never heard of that service but sounds useful. The phone lines are always busy when I try to call NYS Department of Labor.
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Adriana Cohn
just wanted to say hang in there man. dealing with unemployment AND child support is stressful. the system usually works but sometimes takes time to catch up. keep records of everything in case there are any disputes later
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Brandon Parker
Wait, I'm confused. Do they take the child support out BEFORE taxes or AFTER taxes? Because that makes a big difference in how much you actually get. Also what happens if your unemployment amount is less than your child support payment?
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Sofia Peña
•Child support is deducted from your gross unemployment benefit amount, before taxes. So if you get $405 per week and owe $320 in child support, they'll take the $320 first, then calculate taxes on the remaining $85. If your child support exceeds your UI benefit, they'll take the full benefit amount and you'll still owe the difference.
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