How does unemployment pay work in NYS - confused about benefit amounts and timing
I just got approved for unemployment benefits through NYS Department of Labor but I'm really confused about how the actual payments work. My monetary determination says my weekly benefit rate is $320 but when do I actually get paid? Do I get paid for the week I file my weekly claim or is there a delay? Also, is the $320 amount before or after taxes? I've been filing my weekly claims on Sundays but haven't received any payment yet and it's been 2 weeks since my claim was approved. The my.ny.gov website doesn't really explain the timing clearly. Can someone break this down for me?
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Sasha Ivanov
The payment timing can be confusing at first! You get paid for the week AFTER you file your weekly claim. So if you file on Sunday for the previous week, you'll typically receive payment by Wednesday of the following week (assuming no issues). The $320 is your gross benefit amount before taxes. NYS Department of Labor will withhold federal taxes if you elected that option, plus there's usually a small state withholding. Your first payment might take 2-3 business days longer than usual as the system sets up your payment method.
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Miguel Hernández
•Thank you! So if I filed last Sunday for the week ending 1/11, I should get paid this Wednesday? And do I need to do anything special for the first payment or does it just go to my bank account automatically?
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Liam Murphy
been getting UI for 3 months now, payment usually hits my account tuesday night or wednesday morning like clockwork. make sure you set up direct deposit in your my.ny.gov account or you'll be waiting for paper checks which take forever
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Miguel Hernández
•I did set up direct deposit when I first applied. How long did your very first payment take to come through?
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Liam Murphy
•first one took like 5 days but after that it was regular timing
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Amara Okafor
Just to clarify the payment schedule since this trips up a lot of people: NYS Department of Labor pays unemployment benefits weekly, but there's always a one-week lag. When you file your weekly claim (let's say on Sunday 1/19 for the week ending 1/18), that payment will be processed and sent out Monday night/Tuesday morning, arriving in your account typically by Wednesday 1/22. The key thing is you're always getting paid for the week you just completed, not the current week. Also, if there are any issues with your claim that week, payment can be delayed until those are resolved.
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CaptainAwesome
•What kind of issues can delay payment? My claim has been fine for weeks but last week it said 'pending' and I never got paid.
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Amara Okafor
•Common issues include reporting work hours incorrectly, not completing the work search requirements, or random verification requests. Check your inbox on my.ny.gov for any messages from NYS Department of Labor explaining the hold.
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Yuki Tanaka
I had the WORST time trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor when my payments stopped coming for no reason. Kept getting disconnected after waiting on hold for hours. Finally found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual agent in like 10 minutes. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Turned out there was a simple verification issue I could resolve right on the call. Saved me weeks of stress!
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Esmeralda Gómez
•How much does that cost? Seems too good to be true if NYS Department of Labor phone lines are always jammed.
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Yuki Tanaka
•It's worth checking out their site for details, but honestly after wasting so many hours trying to get through myself, having a real person to talk to was huge. The agent could see exactly what was holding up my payments and walked me through fixing it.
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Klaus Schmidt
omg yes the payment timing is SO confusing!! i thought i was getting paid for the current week and couldn't understand why my first check was taking forever lol. also found out the hard way that if you mess up your weekly claim you have to wait until the next week to fix it, there's no going back and editing
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Miguel Hernández
•Wait, you can't edit your weekly claim once you submit it? What if you accidentally put the wrong information?
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Sasha Ivanov
•Correct, once submitted you cannot edit that week's claim. If you made an error, you should call NYS Department of Labor to report it rather than waiting. Small mistakes usually don't cause major issues but it's better to be proactive.
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Zara Mirza
•@Sasha Ivanov is absolutely right about calling if you make an error. I learned this the hard way when I accidentally reported earnings from the wrong week and it flagged my account for review. Took 3 weeks to sort out because I didn t'call immediately. The phone system is frustrating but it s'better than letting errors compound. Pro tip: keep notes of what you report each week so you can catch mistakes early.
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Mei Wong
Just went through this same confusion last month! The one-week delay really threw me off initially. One thing that helped me track everything was creating a simple spreadsheet with the filing date, week ending date, expected payment date, and actual payment received. Also, if you're worried about the timing, you can check your payment history in the my.ny.gov portal under "Payment History" - it shows the status of each week's claim (processed, pending, paid, etc.). This really helped me understand the pattern and catch when something was off with a particular week's claim.
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Javier Mendoza
•That's such a great idea about the spreadsheet! I'm definitely going to set that up. I checked my payment history like you suggested and it shows my first claim as "processed" but no payment date yet. Does that mean it's still coming or should I be worried? Also, when you say one-week delay, does that include the first payment too or does the first one take even longer?
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