How is unemployment benefit calculated by NYS Department of Labor - confused about my weekly amount
I just got approved for unemployment benefits and I'm trying to understand how NYS Department of Labor calculated my weekly benefit amount. My benefit rate shows $365 per week but I'm not sure how they came up with that number. I made around $52,000 last year at my job in marketing, but I also had a part-time gig for a few months that paid maybe $8,000 total. Do they use your highest earning quarter? Average of all four quarters? I've been looking through the determination letter but the explanation is pretty confusing. Also wondering if the part-time work affects the calculation or if they only look at my main job. Anyone know how this actually works?
11 comments
Join the conversation
Amelia Dietrich
NYS Department of Labor uses your base period earnings to calculate benefits. They take your highest earning quarter during the base period and divide by 26 to get your weekly benefit rate. The base period is usually the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you filed. So if you filed in January 2025, they'd look at January-December 2024. Both your main job and part-time work count toward the calculation as long as you paid into UI on those earnings.
0 coins
KhalilStar
AuthorThat makes more sense! So they don't average all four quarters, just take the highest one? I think my highest quarter was probably around $15,000 which would put me close to that $365 rate.
0 coins
Kaiya Rivera
yeah they use highest quarter but there's also a maximum weekly benefit amount in NY. I think it's like $504 right now? so even if your calculation comes out higher you won't get more than the max. also you need to have worked in at least two quarters during the base period to qualify
0 coins
Katherine Ziminski
The maximum weekly benefit rate for 2025 is actually $504, and you also need to meet the wage requirements. You need at least $3,100 in your highest quarter and total base period wages of at least 1.5 times your high quarter wages. The part-time job definitely counts if UI taxes were taken out.
0 coins
Noah Irving
I had the same confusion when I filed! The determination letter they send explains it but it's written in government speak. What helped me was looking at my wage transcript on the my.ny.gov portal - you can see exactly which quarters they used and the amounts. Sometimes employers don't report wages correctly so it's worth checking.
0 coins
KhalilStar
AuthorGood idea about checking the wage transcript. I should make sure both my jobs are showing up correctly in their system.
0 coins
Vanessa Chang
If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to ask questions about your benefit calculation, I had success using a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me reach an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. I was stuck trying to understand why my benefit amount seemed low and couldn't get through on the phone for weeks. The agent was able to explain exactly which quarters they used and why one of my jobs wasn't included in the calculation.
0 coins
Madison King
How much does something like that cost? I've been trying to call NYS Department of Labor for two weeks about my calculation and keep getting hung up on.
0 coins
Vanessa Chang
It was worth it for me since I was losing sleep over whether my calculation was wrong. Much easier than spending hours trying to get through on the phone yourself.
0 coins
Julian Paolo
The NYS Department of Labor system is so confusing with these calculations! I swear they make it complicated on purpose. I've been on unemployment twice and both times the amount seemed random until someone explained the highest quarter thing to me. At least your rate sounds decent - mine was only $287 because I had been working part-time before I got laid off.
0 coins
Mei Liu
I went through this same confusion last year! The calculation is actually pretty straightforward once you understand it. They look at your "base period" which is typically the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters before you filed. Then they take your highest earning quarter from that period and divide by 26. So if your highest quarter was around $9,490, that would get you to about $365/week ($9,490 ÷ 26 = $365). Both your main job and part-time work count as long as unemployment taxes were withheld. The key thing is making sure all your employers reported your wages correctly - sometimes there are delays or errors that can affect your calculation.
0 coins