How does the base period affect my eligibility for NYS Department of Labor unemployment benefits?
I'm trying to understand how the base period works for determining unemployment eligibility. I worked part-time for most of 2024 but had a few months where I barely worked any hours. Now that I'm filing for unemployment, I'm worried my base period earnings might not be enough to qualify. Can someone explain how NYS Department of Labor calculates this? Do they look at total earnings or just certain quarters? I'm really confused about whether I'll even be eligible.
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Fatima Al-Maktoum
The base period for NYS Department of Labor is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you filed your claim. So if you filed in January 2025, your base period would be January 2024 through December 2024. You need to have earned at least $2,700 in your base period and worked in at least two quarters to be eligible. The weekly benefit amount is calculated using your highest quarter earnings.
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Giovanni Rossi
•Thanks! So even if I had some really low earning quarters, as long as my total base period earnings hit $2,700 I should be okay?
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Dylan Mitchell
wait i thought it was just your last year of work that mattered?? this is so confusing
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Sofia Gutierrez
•No, it's specifically the first four of the last five completed quarters. This is different from just looking at the past year because it excludes the most recent quarter to allow time for wage reporting.
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Dmitry Petrov
I had a similar situation where my earnings were really low in two quarters but higher in the other two. NYS Department of Labor still approved my claim because I met the minimum requirements. The key is having enough total earnings and working in at least two different quarters during your base period.
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Giovanni Rossi
•That's reassuring to hear! Did they tell you which quarters they counted or did you have to figure it out yourself?
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Dmitry Petrov
•They show you the base period quarters and earnings on your monetary determination letter after you file. You can also see it in your my.ny.gov account once your claim is processed.
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StarSurfer
UGH the base period calculation is such a pain! I had to call NYS Department of Labor THREE TIMES because my employer reported my wages late and it messed up my whole base period. If you're having trouble getting through to them about base period issues, I ended up using this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me reach an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Way better than sitting on hold for hours.
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Ava Martinez
•How long did it take to get your base period issue resolved once you talked to someone?
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StarSurfer
•The agent was able to see the late wage reporting and manually updated my base period calculation. Took about a week after that call for everything to process correctly.
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Miguel Castro
Just want to add that if your base period doesn't qualify you, NYS Department of Labor will automatically check your alternate base period which uses the last four completed quarters instead. Sometimes that works better for people who had recent job changes.
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Dylan Campbell
This is really helpful information! I'm in a similar boat where I worked inconsistently throughout 2024. One thing I learned when I called NYS Department of Labor is that they also have a minimum weekly benefit amount requirement - you need to have earned at least 1.5 times your weekly benefit rate in your high quarter. So it's not just about hitting the $2,700 total, but also about having enough earnings concentrated in your best quarter. Might be worth calculating that out too before you file to see where you stand.
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