How long do I have to file for NYS Department of Labor unemployment after losing my job?
I got laid off from my warehouse job last Tuesday and I'm wondering if there's a deadline for filing my unemployment claim with NYS Department of Labor. My cousin said I should have filed immediately but I've been dealing with some family stuff and haven't gotten around to it yet. It's been 6 days now. Am I already too late? I heard somewhere that you only have like 5 days or something but I can't find that info anywhere on the my.ny.gov website.
12 comments
Join the conversation
Victoria Charity
You're not too late! In New York, you don't have a specific deadline like 5 days to file your initial unemployment claim. However, you should file as soon as possible because your benefits can only be backdated for one week prior to when you actually file your claim. So the longer you wait, the more potential benefits you're losing. You can file your claim online at my.ny.gov or call the NYS Department of Labor.
0 coins
Evan Kalinowski
•Oh thank god! I was really worried I missed some cutoff. So if I file today I can still get benefits starting from when I was laid off?
0 coins
Victoria Charity
•Well, not exactly. If you file today, your claim effective date would be this week. You can request to backdate one week, which would cover last week when you were actually laid off. But you can't get benefits for the gap between when you lost your job and when you filed beyond that one week.
0 coins
Jasmine Quinn
The sooner the better is the rule. I made the mistake of waiting almost 2 weeks to file when I got let go last year and I lost out on a whole week of benefits because of the backdating limit. Don't make my mistake - go file right now if you can.
0 coins
Oscar Murphy
•Same thing happened to me. Lost a week of benefits because I didn't know about the backdating rule.
0 coins
Nora Bennett
I had trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor on the phone when I needed to file. If you're having issues with the website or can't get through by calling, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get connected to an actual agent. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Saved me hours of trying to call and getting busy signals.
0 coins
Evan Kalinowski
•Thanks for the tip! I'll try the website first but good to know there are other options if I get stuck.
0 coins
Ryan Andre
just file online its way easier than calling. took me like 10 minutes when i did mine last month
0 coins
Lauren Zeb
Wait I'm confused about something - do you have to file within a certain time after each week to get your weekly benefits? Or is that different from the initial filing deadline?
0 coins
Victoria Charity
•That's a separate thing. Once your claim is established, you need to file your weekly claim each week to continue receiving benefits. You typically have until the following Sunday to file for the previous week, but it's best to file as soon as the week ends on Sunday.
0 coins
Daniel Washington
The whole system is so confusing. Why don't they just automatically start your benefits from the day you tell them you were laid off? Makes no sense that you lose money just because you didn't know about some arbitrary rule.
0 coins
Jasmine Quinn
•I agree it's frustrating, but I think the one-week backdate limit is to prevent people from filing months later and claiming benefits for the whole period. Still sucks when you're dealing with job loss stress though.
0 coins