How is your unemployment calculated - NYS Department of Labor benefit amount formula?
I'm trying to figure out how NYS Department of Labor calculates my weekly benefit amount and I'm getting confused by all the information online. I know it's based on your earnings but I can't find a clear explanation of the actual formula they use. My gross wages varied quite a bit over the past year - some weeks I made $800, others closer to $1200 depending on overtime. Does anyone know exactly how they calculate what you get? I filed my claim last week and it's still processing so I haven't seen my monetary determination yet.
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Hiroshi Nakamura
NYS Department of Labor uses your highest quarter of earnings from your base period (first 4 of the last 5 quarters before you filed). They take that amount, divide by 26, then you get half of that weekly up to the maximum. So if your highest quarter was $15,600, that's $600 per week average, and you'd get $300 weekly benefit. The current max is $504 per week.
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GamerGirl99
•That makes sense! So they don't look at my whole year, just the best quarter? That's actually good news since my highest quarter was probably around $16,000.
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Isabella Costa
wait I thought it was based on all 4 quarters not just the highest one??
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Hiroshi Nakamura
•No, for the weekly benefit amount calculation it's just your highest quarter. You need earnings in at least 2 quarters to qualify, but the weekly amount comes from your best quarter only.
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Malik Jenkins
The monetary determination letter will show you exactly how they calculated it. Mine took about 2 weeks to get after I filed. It breaks down all your quarterly wages and shows the math. If you think there's an error you can appeal within 30 days.
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Freya Andersen
•This is so helpful. I had no idea you could appeal the monetary determination if something looked wrong.
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Eduardo Silva
If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to check on your claim status or ask questions about your calculation, I used a service called Claimyr that helped me reach an actual agent. They have a website at claimyr.com and there's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Really saved me hours of calling and getting hung up on.
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GamerGirl99
•Thanks for the suggestion! I'll check that out if I need to talk to someone at NYS Department of Labor about my calculation.
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Leila Haddad
Just remember they also look at whether you earned at least 1.5 times your highest quarter amount in your whole base period. So even if you have a good high quarter, you still need decent earnings overall to qualify for the full amount.
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Emma Johnson
yeah this system is so confusing, took me forever to understand it when I first filed
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