How to determine your NYS Department of Labor unemployment benefit amount - confused about calculation
I'm trying to figure out how much I'll get from NYS Department of Labor for unemployment benefits but I'm getting confused by all the info online. I worked at a warehouse for about 8 months making $18/hour, then got laid off in December. Before that I had a part-time retail job for like 6 months at $15/hour. I looked at my.ny.gov but it just shows my claim is pending and doesn't give me any estimate. How do they actually calculate what you get? Is it based on your highest paying job or do they look at everything? I really need to know so I can budget properly.
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Zara Mirza
NYS Department of Labor uses your base period wages to calculate your weekly benefit rate (WBR). They look at the highest quarter of earnings in your base period and divide by 26. Your base period is the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters before you filed. So if you filed in December 2024, they'd look at July 2023 - June 2024. The maximum weekly benefit in NY is $504 for 2025.
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Sean Flanagan
•Thanks! So they don't just look at my last job? That's confusing because I made more at the warehouse but only worked there 8 months.
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NebulaNinja
yeah its confusing af. i think they take ur best quarter but honestly the NYS Department of Labor website is terrible at explaining this stuff. when i applied they just told me my amount after like 2 weeks
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Luca Russo
•You can actually estimate it yourself. Take your highest quarter wages, divide by 26, that's roughly your weekly amount. But you also need to have earned enough in your base period to qualify - usually 1.5 times your high quarter in total base period wages.
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Nia Wilson
I had a similar situation last year with multiple jobs and the NYS Department of Labor calculation was way different than I expected. Turns out my part-time job actually helped because it was in a different quarter and boosted my total base period wages. The key is understanding which quarters they're looking at for your specific filing date.
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Sean Flanagan
•Did you have trouble getting through to them to ask questions? I've been trying to call but keep getting disconnected.
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Nia Wilson
•Oh yeah, calling NYS Department of Labor is a nightmare. I actually used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helps you get through to an actual agent. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Way easier than spending hours on hold.
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Mateo Sanchez
The whole system is ridiculous honestly. They make it so complicated when it should be simple - you lost your job, here's what you get based on what you made. Instead they have these weird quarter calculations and base periods that nobody understands. And good luck getting anyone at NYS Department of Labor to explain it clearly!
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Aisha Mahmood
•I know right!! I'm still waiting for my determination letter and its been 3 weeks. My neighbor got hers in like 5 days but she filed right after me??? Makes no sense
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Ethan Clark
same boat here, trying to figure out my weekly amount before my first payment. the waiting is killing me
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Giovanni Ricci
•@Sean Flanagan might want to try this too - you can actually get a rough estimate by looking at your wage statements from your base period. Add up your wages for each quarter, find the highest one, then divide by 26. That should give you a ballpark figure while you wait for NYS Department of Labor to process everything.
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