How many hours can I work for partial unemployment benefits in NY?
I'm really confused about the partial unemployment rules for NYS Department of Labor. My employer cut my hours from 40 to 20 per week and I want to file for partial benefits but I can't figure out exactly how many hours I'm allowed to work before I lose eligibility completely. The my.ny.gov website mentions something about working less than 4 days but it's not clear if that means total hours or actual workdays. Anyone know the specific hour limits for partial UI in New York? I'm scared to work too much and mess up my claim.
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Freya Larsen
For partial unemployment in NY, you can work up to 3 days per week OR earn less than your weekly benefit rate plus $50. It's not about total hours specifically - it's about days worked and earnings. So if you normally get $300 in benefits, you can earn up to $350 that week and still get partial benefits. The key is you must work less than 4 days regardless of hours per day.
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Ravi Kapoor
•Wait so if I work 20 hours in 3 days that's different than 20 hours spread over 4 days? This is so confusing.
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Freya Larsen
•Exactly! NYS Department of Labor counts it by days worked, not total hours. 20 hours in 3 days = partial benefits possible. 20 hours in 4 days = no benefits that week.
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GalacticGladiator
this happened to me too, the days thing is super weird but thats how it works. i was working like 6 hours on 4 different days and got nothing but when i switched to longer shifts on 3 days i qualified again
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Ravi Kapoor
•That's exactly my situation! I'll ask my boss if I can do longer shifts on fewer days. Thanks!
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Omar Zaki
The earnings formula is also important - they deduct 25% of what you earn over $50 from your weekly benefit amount. So if your benefit is $300 and you earn $250 that week, you'd get $300 - (($250-$50) x 0.25) = $250 in partial benefits. But remember, you still need to work less than 4 days total.
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Chloe Taylor
I've been trying to call NYS Department of Labor for weeks about this exact question and can never get through! The phone system is impossible. Has anyone found a way to actually talk to someone there?
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Diego Flores
•I used this service called Claimyr that gets you through to NYS Department of Labor agents automatically. Check out claimyr.com - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. I was able to get my partial unemployment questions answered in like 20 minutes instead of calling for days.
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Anastasia Ivanova
ugh the whole system is so backwards, why would they care about DAYS instead of actual hours worked?? makes no sense whatsoever
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Sean Murphy
•I think it's because they want to encourage people to find full-time work instead of just picking up random shifts here and there.
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