How much money can you make a week before losing NYS Department of Labor unemployment benefits?
I just started a part-time job while still collecting unemployment and I'm terrified I'm going to mess something up. The job is only 2 days a week but I'm not sure how much I can earn before NYS Department of Labor cuts off my benefits completely. I've been getting $320 a week in unemployment and this new job pays $15/hour. If I work 16 hours a week that's $240 - will that disqualify me? I can't find clear information anywhere and I'm scared to report it wrong on my weekly claim. Has anyone dealt with this situation before?
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Natasha Volkova
You won't lose your benefits completely unless you're working full-time. NYS Department of Labor allows you to work part-time and still collect partial unemployment. The general rule is you can earn up to 1/4 of your weekly benefit rate without any reduction. In your case, that would be $80 per week. Anything over that amount gets deducted dollar-for-dollar from your unemployment payment. So if you earn $240, they'll subtract $160 from your $320 benefit, leaving you with $160 in unemployment plus your $240 in wages.
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Oliver Zimmermann
•Thank you! So I'd still get something from unemployment even making $240? That's a relief. Do I report the gross amount or net amount on my weekly claim?
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Natasha Volkova
•Always report gross earnings before taxes and deductions. And make sure you report it for the week you actually worked, not when you get paid.
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Javier Torres
I've been doing part-time work for months while on unemployment. The key is being honest about your hours and earnings on the weekly certification. NYS Department of Labor is pretty good about calculating the partial payments automatically once you report everything correctly. Just don't try to hide any income - they will find out eventually.
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Emma Davis
•How do they find out? I'm asking for a friend who might have forgotten to report some cash work...
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Javier Torres
•They cross-reference with employer wage reports and tax records. Your friend should probably call NYS Department of Labor and voluntarily report any unreported income before they discover it themselves.
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CosmicCaptain
WAIT hold on everyone here is giving different numbers!! I thought you could make up to $504 a week before losing everything? I'm so confused by all these rules and my weekly claim is due tomorrow. Why can't NYS Department of Labor just make this stuff clearer?!
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Natasha Volkova
•You're thinking of the maximum benefit amount, not the earnings threshold. The $504 is what some people get as their weekly benefit rate if they had high earnings before unemployment. The 1/4 rule applies to everyone regardless of their benefit amount.
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Malik Johnson
If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to clarify this, I recently used a service called Claimyr that got me connected to an actual agent in about 10 minutes. You can check it out at claimyr.com - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Way better than sitting on hold for hours or getting hung up on.
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Oliver Zimmermann
•Is that legit? Sounds too good to be true with how impossible it is to reach anyone at NYS Department of Labor.
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Malik Johnson
•Yeah I was skeptical too but it actually worked. They somehow get you to the front of the callback queue. Saved me a ton of frustration when I had an adjudication issue last month.
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Isabella Ferreira
just report everything and let them figure it out thats what i do
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Ravi Sharma
•That's actually good advice! NYS Department of Labor's system is designed to calculate partial benefits automatically when you report accurately. Better to over-report than under-report.
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Alina Rosenthal
I was in a similar situation last year and can confirm what others are saying about the 1/4 rule. Just to clarify the math for you Oliver - with your $320 weekly benefit, you can earn up to $80 without any reduction. Since you're making $240 ($15 x 16 hours), they'll subtract the excess $160 from your unemployment check, so you'd get $160 from unemployment plus your $240 wages = $400 total per week. That's actually more than just the $320 unemployment alone! The important thing is to report your gross earnings for the exact week you worked, and don't stress too much - the system calculates it automatically once you input the correct information.
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