How is unemployment measured when filing weekly claims with NYS Department of Labor?
I'm confused about something with my weekly claims. When I file my weekly certification with NYS Department of Labor, they ask if I worked and how many hours. But I'm wondering - how exactly do they measure unemployment status? Like if I work 10 hours one week am I still considered unemployed? What about 20 hours? I've been getting partial benefits but I want to make sure I'm reporting everything correctly. Does anyone know the specific rules NYS Department of Labor uses to determine if you're unemployed vs employed?
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Millie Long
NYS Department of Labor uses specific criteria to measure unemployment status. You're considered unemployed if you work less than 30 hours per week AND earn less than your weekly benefit rate. For partial benefits, they reduce your payment based on earnings - anything over $100 gets deducted from your weekly amount. So if you work 10-20 hours, you're still technically unemployed but receiving reduced benefits.
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Santiago Diaz
•That makes sense! So the 30 hour threshold is the key number. I've been working about 15 hours a week so I should still qualify for partial benefits as long as I report it correctly.
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KaiEsmeralda
yeah i think its like if you make too much money in a week they just dont pay you anything for that week but you can still file your claim
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Debra Bai
The measurement is actually more complex than just hours. NYS Department of Labor looks at both time worked AND earnings. You need to report gross earnings before taxes for any work during your claim week (Sunday-Saturday). If you earn more than your weekly benefit rate plus $100, you get no payment that week. But you should still file your weekly claim to keep it active.
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Gabriel Freeman
•This is really helpful. I've been stressed about reporting a few hours of freelance work I did. Sounds like as long as I stay under the earnings limit I should be okay.
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Laura Lopez
I had trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor to get clarification on this exact question. Kept getting busy signals and hung up on. Finally found this service called Claimyr at claimyr.com that helped me get through to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. The agent explained the exact calculation for my situation which was super helpful.
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Santiago Diaz
•Interesting, I've never heard of that service. Did they charge you anything to help you get through?
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Laura Lopez
•They do charge but it was worth it to finally talk to someone who could explain the rules clearly instead of guessing from the website.
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Victoria Brown
ugh the whole system is so confusing!! why cant they just make it simple - if youre working youre not unemployed if youre not working you get money. why all these weird calculations and partial this and partial that
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Samuel Robinson
Same question here! I'm doing some gig work and wasn't sure how to report it properly on my weekly claims.
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Chloe Zhang
For gig work, you need to report ALL earnings for the week you actually received payment, not when you did the work. So if you did DoorDash or Uber on Monday but got paid Friday, report it for that Friday's claim week. NYS DOL counts gross earnings before any expenses or taxes. I learned this the hard way when I got an overpayment notice because I wasn't reporting my gig earnings correctly. The key is being super accurate about when you actually received the money in your account.
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Jamal Brown
•This is such important info about gig work timing! I've been reporting when I worked instead of when I got paid. No wonder the amounts seemed off on my claims. Thanks for sharing your experience - definitely don't want to deal with an overpayment situation.
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