How much unemployment will I get if I make $400 a week - NYS Department of Labor calculation help
I'm trying to figure out what my weekly unemployment benefit would be if I lose my job. I currently make $400 a week gross pay working retail. I've been at this job for about 8 months now and before that I was making around $350 a week at my previous job for like 6 months. Does anyone know how NYS Department of Labor calculates the weekly benefit amount? I'm trying to budget in case I get laid off after the holidays since retail always cuts hours in January.
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Zainab Ibrahim
NYS Department of Labor uses your highest quarter earnings from your base period to calculate benefits. At $400/week you're making about $20,800 annually. Your weekly benefit rate would be roughly 50% of your average weekly wage up to the maximum. So you'd probably get around $200 per week, but it depends on your exact earnings history in all four quarters of your base period.
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Miguel Castro
•Thanks! So they look at the whole year not just my current job? That's good because my previous job paid less but I was there longer.
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Connor O'Neill
i think its like half of what you make but theres a max amount too. when i was on unemployment last year i was making about the same as you and got like $190 something per week
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LunarEclipse
The exact formula is your high quarter wages divided by 26. But you need to have worked in at least 2 quarters and earned a minimum amount to qualify. With your work history you should be fine. You can actually get an estimate by creating an account on my.ny.gov and using their benefit calculator before you even file a claim.
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Miguel Castro
•Oh I didn't know they had a calculator! I'll check that out, thanks.
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Yara Khalil
•Wait I tried that calculator thing and it was confusing. It asked for all these quarter amounts and I don't know what quarters they mean exactly.
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Keisha Brown
Just wanted to mention that if you do end up needing to file for unemployment and have trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor on the phone, I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually got me connected to an agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Saved me hours of trying to call myself when I had questions about my claim status.
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Paolo Esposito
•How much does that cost though? The whole point of unemployment is that you don't have money coming in...
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Keisha Brown
•It was worth it for me when I was stuck in adjudication for weeks. Sometimes you just need to talk to an actual person to resolve issues with your claim.
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Amina Toure
The NYS Department of Labor system is so frustrating! I've been trying to figure out my potential benefits too and their website is terrible. At least with $400/week you'll probably qualify easily since you've been working steadily. I had gaps in my employment and it made everything more complicated.
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Megan D'Acosta
I went through this same calculation last year when I was laid off from my warehouse job. The key thing to remember is that NYS looks at your "base period" which is usually the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters before you file. So if you file in January 2025, they'd look at roughly April 2023 through March 2024. With your steady work history at $400/week, you should definitely qualify. I'd estimate you'll get somewhere between $180-200 per week, but definitely use that online calculator someone mentioned - it's more accurate than guessing. Also heads up that benefits max out at 26 weeks unless there are extensions, so start looking for work right away if you do get laid off.
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