How late can you claim NY unemployment weekly benefits before losing them?
I've been super busy with job interviews and completely forgot to claim my weekly NY unemployment benefits last week. I usually claim on Mondays but now it's Thursday night. Is it too late to claim for last week? Will I lose that week's payment entirely or is there some grace period? The NYSDOL website isn't clear about this. Really stressing because I can't afford to miss a payment right now!
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Carmen Vega
You actually have until midnight Saturday following the end of your benefit week to claim your weekly benefits. NY gives you the full week (Sunday-Saturday) to certify for the previous week. So you're still good if you do it by Saturday! Just log in and follow the usual certification process.
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Yuki Kobayashi
•Oh thank goodness! I thought I was going to lose the whole week. Going to log in right now before I forget again. Thanks!
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QuantumQuester
the cutoff is saturday at 11:59pm. but dont wait until last minute bc sometimes the system gets glitchy right before deadline when everyone tries to login at once lol
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Yuki Kobayashi
@profile7 Thanks for the heads up about potential glitches. I just tried to log in and the site is running super slow. Is this normal on Thursdays?
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QuantumQuester
•yea thurs and friday nights are busy. mornings are better or try sat morning
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Andre Moreau
Just to add a bit more detail - if you do miss the Saturday deadline, all is not lost. You can still claim late benefits by requesting a backdated certification. You'll need to call NYSDOL directly and explain your situation. They'll review your case and may allow you to claim for that missed week. However, there's no guarantee they'll approve it, and it can take weeks to resolve. So definitely try to claim within the regular weekly window whenever possible!
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Yuki Kobayashi
•That's really good to know! Do you know if there's a limit to how many times you can do the backdated certification thing? Like if this happens again in the future?
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Andre Moreau
•There's no official limit I'm aware of, but they do track patterns. If you repeatedly miss deadlines, they might question whether you're available and actively looking for work (which is a requirement). One or two missed deadlines with good reason shouldn't be an issue though.
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Zoe Stavros
Ugh I missed the Saturday deadline once and it was SUCH A NIGHTMARE trying to get someone on the phone!!! I called for LITERAL DAYS and couldn't get through to an actual person. Kept getting the "we're experiencing high call volume" message over and over and over. Finally I just gave up and lost that week's payment completely. It was back in January 2025 and I'm STILL mad about it!!!
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Jamal Harris
•I had the same problem trying to reach them about a different issue! After wasting hours calling and getting nowhere, I tried this service called Claimyr that basically waits on hold for you and then calls you when they have an agent on the line. Worked pretty well honestly - I was skeptical but it got me through to a real person in about 40 minutes when I'd been trying unsuccessfully for days. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE
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Mei Chen
This happened to my brother last month and he just waited until the next Monday and claimed both weeks at once. Said it worked fine.
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Andre Moreau
•That's not accurate. The NY system doesn't allow you to claim past weeks during regular certification. Your brother might have been certifying for the current week and a week that was still within the Saturday deadline. The system doesn't let you claim for weeks outside the claiming window without calling for a backdated certification.
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Liam Sullivan
I've been on NY unemployment twice during my career and the claiming deadline has always been Saturday at midnight. Same with my wife who was on it last year. Just don't wait until 11:59pm on Saturday because I've seen the system crash right before deadline. Also, set a reminder on your phone! I used to always do Mondays at 8am as my certification time - made it part of my routine so I never forgot.
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Yuki Kobayashi
•The phone reminder is a really good idea. I usually do Monday mornings too, but got caught up with interviews this week. Definitely setting an alarm for next Monday!
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Carmen Vega
Did you manage to get your certification done? The site was having maintenance issues last night.
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Yuki Kobayashi
•Yes! Thanks for checking. I was able to certify this morning. The site was working much better, just like someone suggested. Really relieved I didn't miss out on this week's payment.
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