How is unemployment benefit amount calculated by NYS Department of Labor?
I'm trying to understand how NYS Department of Labor figures out your weekly unemployment benefit amount. I know it's based on your earnings but I can't find a clear explanation of the actual formula they use. My friend got $320 a week and I got $285 even though we worked at similar jobs. Does anyone know how this calculation works? Is it just your highest quarter or do they average all four quarters? Really confused about the whole process.
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Gabrielle Dubois
NYS Department of Labor uses your highest quarter of earnings from your base period (first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters before you filed). They take that amount, divide by 26, and that's your weekly benefit rate. But there's also a minimum and maximum - currently $104 minimum and $504 maximum per week. So if your highest quarter was $8,320, you'd get $320 per week ($8,320 ÷ 26 = $320).
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Dmitri Volkov
•That makes so much more sense! So it's literally just one quarter divided by 26 weeks, not an average of all quarters. Thank you for explaining it clearly.
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Tyrone Johnson
yeah but dont they also look at your total earnings to make sure you qualify? i think you need like $2600 total in your base period or something
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Gabrielle Dubois
•Correct! You need at least $2,600 in total base period wages AND your highest quarter must be at least $2,600. Both requirements have to be met to qualify for benefits.
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Ingrid Larsson
If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to verify your benefit calculation, I had good luck using Claimyr (claimyr.com). They help you get connected to actual agents without waiting on hold forever. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Really helped when I needed to understand why my benefit amount seemed wrong.
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Carlos Mendoza
•Interesting, never heard of that service. The NYS Department of Labor phone system is definitely frustrating - might be worth checking out.
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Zainab Mahmoud
The whole system is rigged anyway!!! They calculate it to give you as LITTLE as possible while making the rules so complicated nobody understands them. I've been fighting with NYS Department of Labor for months over my benefit amount and they keep giving me different explanations every time I call.
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Ava Williams
•I feel you on the frustration but the formula is actually pretty straightforward once you understand it. The problem is they don't explain it well on their website.
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