How to calculate quarterly earnings for NYS Department of Labor unemployment benefits
I'm trying to figure out how to calculate my quarterly earnings for my unemployment claim. My employer laid me off in December and I'm filing for benefits but the NYS Department of Labor system is asking for quarterly wage information and I'm confused about what quarters they want and how to add everything up. I worked two different jobs last year - one full time until August and then part time at another place until I got laid off. Do I need to add up all my wages from both jobs for each quarter? And which quarters do they use to determine my benefit amount?
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Anita George
NYS Department of Labor uses your highest earning quarter from your base period to calculate your weekly benefit rate. Your base period is typically the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters before you filed. So if you filed in December 2024, they'd look at quarters from July 2023 through June 2024. You add up ALL wages from every employer during each quarter, then they use whichever quarter had the highest total earnings.
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Austin Leonard
•That makes sense! So I need to add both jobs together for each quarter. Do I use gross wages or net wages when calculating this?
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Abigail Spencer
Always use GROSS wages, not what you took home after taxes. And make sure you have your wage records handy because sometimes the NYS Department of Labor wage database doesn't have the most recent info from employers. I had to submit pay stubs for my last job because they hadn't reported my wages yet.
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Logan Chiang
•This happened to me too! I couldn't get through to anyone at NYS Department of Labor for weeks to submit my missing wage info. Finally used claimyr.com to get connected to an actual agent who helped me upload my pay stubs. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows exactly how it works. Saved me so much frustration trying to call on my own.
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Isla Fischer
wait im confused about the quarters too... so if i filed in january 2025 what quarters would they use?? i worked at walmart from march 2024 to november 2024 and made like $18000 total
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Anita George
•For a January 2025 filing, your base period quarters would be October 2023 - September 2024. So Q4 2023, Q1 2024, Q2 2024, and Q3 2024. Your $18,000 from March-November would be split across Q1 (March), Q2 (April-June), and Q3 (July-September) of 2024.
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Miles Hammonds
The whole quarterly system is so unnecessarily complicated! Why can't they just use your last year of earnings like a normal person would think? I spent hours trying to figure this out when I got laid off and the NYS Department of Labor website explains it terribly.
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Ruby Blake
•I know it's frustrating but there's actually a good reason - it prevents people from working just long enough to qualify and then quitting. Using the base period quarters ensures you had consistent work history over a longer period.
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