How long can I stay on unemployment benefits in New York?

In New York, regular unemployment insurance (UI) benefits last for a maximum of 26 weeks within your benefit year. This is the standard duration that's been in place since the pandemic programs ended. Your benefit year starts when you first file your claim and lasts for 52 weeks total, but you can only collect benefits for up to 26 of those weeks assuming you remain eligible.

yeah its 26 weeks max but you gotta keep doing your job search and filing weekly claims. dont skip any weeks or youll lose benefits for those weeks

Just make sure you're meeting all the requirements - you need to be actively looking for work, available for work, and file your weekly claim certification every week. The NYS Department of Labor requires you to keep a log of your job search activities. If you stop meeting any of these requirements, your benefits can be stopped even if you haven't reached the 26-week limit.

I had trouble reaching someone at NYS Department of Labor when I had questions about my benefit duration. The phone lines are always busy and I kept getting disconnected. I ended up using this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Made it so much easier to get my questions answered about my claim.

Just remember that if your claim runs out and you still haven't found work, you might be able to file a new claim if you've worked enough since your original claim started. But there's no extensions like there were during COVID.

One thing to keep in mind is that your weekly benefit amount is calculated based on your earnings during your base period (usually the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters before you filed). So even though you have 26 weeks maximum, you might exhaust your dollar amount before you reach the time limit if your weekly benefit is high relative to your total benefit amount. You can check your remaining balance on the NYS DOL website when you file your weekly claims.

Another important thing to remember is that if you do temporary or part-time work while collecting unemployment, you need to report all earnings when you file your weekly claim. NYS allows you to earn up to a certain amount before it affects your benefits (usually around 1/4 of your weekly benefit rate), but anything over that will reduce your weekly payment dollar-for-dollar. Just make sure you're honest about any work you do - they cross-check with employer wage reports and not reporting earnings can result in overpayment that you'll have to pay back with penalties.