How long do you need to be at a job to collect unemployment in NY?

You don't qualify for unemployment if you quit voluntarily unless it's for good cause. But to answer your question about work history - NYS Department of Labor looks at your entire base period (first 4 quarters of the last 5 completed quarters before you file). You need to have worked and earned wages during that time. Since you worked 2 years at your previous job, you'd likely meet the wage requirements.

be careful about quitting! i quit my job last year thinking i had good cause and got denied. had to appeal and it took months

Good cause is pretty specific. Schedule changes alone usually aren't enough unless they make it impossible for you to work. Document everything - the schedule changes, hour cuts, any unsafe conditions. If you're thinking about leaving, you might want to try talking to your boss first or file a complaint if there are labor law violations. That creates a paper trail that helps if you do end up filing for unemployment.

This is so frustrating about the unemployment system. I had a similar situation where I couldn't get through to anyone at NYS Department of Labor to ask questions about quitting vs being laid off. Spent weeks calling and either got busy signals or got disconnected after waiting on hold for hours. Finally found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually got me connected to a real person at the unemployment office. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Might be worth checking out if you need to talk to someone about your specific situation before making any decisions.

just to add - the NYS Department of Labor also considers if you made reasonable efforts to solve the problem before quitting. So if you haven't talked to HR or your supervisor about the issues, they might say you should have tried that first

UGH this whole system is set up to screw workers over. They make it nearly impossible to quit a bad job and still get benefits. Meanwhile employers can fire you for any reason and you get unemployment no problem. Makes no sense.

Have you considered documenting whether your supervisor is giving you adequate notice for schedule changes? In NY, there are predictive scheduling laws for certain industries that require advance notice. If your employer is violating those rules, that could strengthen a "good cause" case. Also, keep track of how the hour cuts are affecting your total earnings - if you're earning significantly less than when you were hired, that might be considered constructive dismissal. The key is building a strong paper trail before you make any decisions.