How do I find my employer registration number for unemployment claim with NYS Department of Labor?

The employer registration number is usually on your separation paperwork if you got any when you were laid off or fired. Check any documents your employer gave you when your employment ended. If you don't have that, you can also find it by calling your former employer's HR department directly - they'll have it on file with NYS Department of Labor.

sometimes its on your paystub under a different name like 'UI account number' or something similar. also check if you have any unemployment insurance notices that your employer might have sent in the past

You can actually file your claim without the employer registration number initially. The NYS Department of Labor will match your employer information using their database. Just make sure you have the correct legal business name and address. If there are any issues, they'll contact you during the adjudication process to get additional details. I had the same problem and filed without it - my claim went through fine.

If you're having trouble reaching your employer, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual NYS Department of Labor agent when I had similar issues with my claim. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows exactly how it works. The agent I spoke with was able to look up my employer's registration number and complete my claim over the phone. Way easier than trying to hunt down paperwork or unresponsive HR departments.

UGH this is SO frustrating!! Why do they make this process so complicated? I had the same issue and spent HOURS trying to figure this out. The unemployment system is already stressful enough without having to track down random numbers that nobody tells you about ahead of time.

Same thing happened to me last month. Turns out my employer registration number was on an old notice I got about unemployment insurance contributions that came with my tax documents. Maybe check any employment-related paperwork you saved from throughout the year?

I went through this exact same thing a few months ago! It's so confusing because they don't explain what this number is anywhere. I ended up finding mine on an old quarterly wage statement that my employer had sent me earlier in the year - it was listed as "SUI Account Number" (State Unemployment Insurance). If you got any quarterly statements or tax documents from your employer during the year, definitely check those. Also, some employers include it on their letterhead or in the footer of official documents. If all else fails, you might be able to get it from your state's business registry website by searching your employer's name, since they have to register to pay unemployment taxes.

I had this same issue recently and it was so confusing! What ended up working for me was checking my 2024 Form W-2 more carefully - on Box 15 (State/Employer's state ID no.), my employer's unemployment account number was actually listed there. It might be abbreviated or formatted differently than you expect. Also, if you filed taxes this year, sometimes tax prep software saves additional employer documents that might have this info. Worth double-checking before you have to deal with calling anyone!

I'm dealing with this exact same problem right now! It's so stressful when you're already worried about unemployment and then the system throws these random requirements at you. I've been looking through all my paperwork and can't find anything that clearly says "employer registration number." Reading through everyone's suggestions here is really helpful though - I never would have thought to check Box 15 on my W-2 or look for quarterly wage statements. It seems like there are so many different places this number could be hiding. Has anyone tried just calling the NYS Department of Labor directly to ask them to look it up? I'm wondering if that might be faster than hunting through all these documents, especially if some of us didn't get proper separation paperwork when we were let go.