How is unemployment compensation determined by NYS Department of Labor?
I'm trying to understand how NYS Department of Labor calculates my weekly benefit amount. I worked for 18 months at different jobs with varying salaries - some weeks I made $850, other weeks closer to $1100. My claim was approved but I'm getting $420 per week and I can't figure out how they came up with that number. Does anyone know the formula they use? I looked on the my.ny.gov website but it's not very clear about the actual calculation.
11 comments
Join the conversation
Carmella Popescu
NYS Department of Labor uses your base period earnings to calculate your weekly benefit rate (WBR). They look at the highest quarter of earnings in your base period and divide by 26. Your 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 Q1 2024 through Q4 2024. The maximum weekly benefit for 2025 is $504.
0 coins
Lorenzo McCormick
•That makes more sense! So they're not looking at my most recent pay but going back further? I think my highest quarter was probably Q3 2024 when I was working overtime a lot.
0 coins
Kai Santiago
Also remember you need to have worked in at least two quarters during your base period and earned a minimum amount. I think it's like $2,700 total base period earnings and at least $1,350 in your highest quarter, but don't quote me on those exact numbers.
0 coins
Lim Wong
•Yeah those minimums sound right. I barely qualified when I filed last year because I had a gap in employment.
0 coins
Dananyl Lear
WAIT so they don't use your last paycheck or anything recent?? I've been wondering why my amount seemed low compared to what I was making before I got laid off. This system is so confusing!!!
0 coins
Carmella Popescu
•Nope, it's based on older earnings. That's why sometimes your benefit seems disconnected from your most recent job. If your recent earnings were much higher, you might be able to request an alternate base period in some cases.
0 coins
Noah huntAce420
If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to ask about your specific calculation, I used claimyr.com a few months ago when I had questions about my benefit amount. They got me connected to an actual agent who walked through my wage history with me. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Way easier than trying to call the regular number.
0 coins
Lorenzo McCormick
•Thanks, I might try that. I've called the NYS Department of Labor number like 15 times and either get busy signal or hung up on after waiting forever.
0 coins
Ana Rusula
•Did you have to pay for that service? Sounds too good to be true honestly.
0 coins
Noah huntAce420
•Yeah there's a fee but it was worth it for me since I was getting nowhere with regular calling. The agent was able to pull up my account and explain everything clearly.
0 coins
Fidel Carson
just wanted to add that if you had multiple jobs during your base period they'll combine all the wages from different employers. learned that the hard way when i was trying to figure out my own calculation last year lol
0 coins