NY unemployment Shared Work program and Tourism Recovery Fund eligibility question
I operate a small tour company in upstate NY that was hit hard during COVID and we're still struggling. I heard something about a Tourism Recovery Fund that might help businesses like mine, but I can't find updated info about whether this is still available in 2025. I currently have 5 employees on reduced hours through the NY Shared Work program to avoid laying them off completely. Would applying for tourism recovery funds affect their unemployment benefits? Has anyone here navigated both programs successfully? Really need some guidance on this!
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Oliver Schulz
The NY Tourism Recovery Fund was approved for a 2025 extension with a different application process than before. As a business owner, you can apply without it affecting your employees' Shared Work benefits - they're completely separate programs. Your employees receive unemployment to supplement reduced wages through Shared Work, while the Tourism Recovery Fund provides direct business grants. The application window opens April 15, 2025, and the main qualification is demonstrating at least 25% revenue loss compared to 2019. Keep good documentation of both programs though!
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Amina Diallo
•Thank you! This is super helpful. Do you know where I can find the application for the Tourism Recovery Fund? The NYSDOL website only has info about Shared Work but nothing about the tourism grants when I search.
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Natasha Kuznetsova
my frend got the tourisim $ last yr for his rafting biz. took like 3 months to get approved tho. dunno if its the same thing ur talking about
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Amina Diallo
•Was that through NY state or was it federal? And did he have any employees on unemployment at the same time? 3 months isn't too bad I guess...
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Natasha Kuznetsova
•ny state. think he had 2 ppl on unemployment but not that shared work thing
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AstroAdventurer
I'm in a similar situation with my bed and breakfast and tried calling NYSDOL about this EXACT question last week! Spent three days trying to get through and when I finally did, they transferred me to someone else who put me on hold for 45 minutes and then the call dropped!!! Is there ANYONE at that agency who knows how these programs work together?? I'm terrified of doing something wrong and having my employees lose their benefits. Has anyone found a way to actually talk to someone who knows what they're doing there??
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Javier Mendoza
•After trying for weeks to reach someone at NYSDOL about a similar issue, I finally used Claimyr.com to get through. It's a service that holds your place in the phone queue and calls you back when an agent is available. Saved me hours of frustration! They have a video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE. Worth it when you need actual answers and can't afford to sit on hold all day.
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Emma Wilson
Here's the actual info you need: The Tourism Recovery Fund and Shared Work are administered by different divisions. Tourism Recovery is through Empire State Development (not NYSDOL) while Shared Work is through NYSDOL's Employer Services. They don't share data automatically, but you must disclose on your Tourism Recovery application if you're participating in Shared Work. This won't disqualify you, but they use this info to prevent double-dipping on certain expense categories. The new application will be at: https://esd.ny.gov/tourism-recovery-2025 (page goes live April 1) For your employees, their UI benefits under Shared Work won't be affected at all by your business receiving a tourism grant. The grant is for business expenses while UI is for individual income replacement.
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Amina Diallo
•This is exactly what I needed! Thank you for the specific link and explaining how the programs interact. I'll bookmark that page and check on April 1st. Really appreciate the clear explanation about how the tourism funds won't impact my employees' benefits.
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Malik Davis
Be careful with any NY grant programs right now. My sister applied for something similar last year and got approved but then they randomly audited her 6 months later and made her pay back half because of some technicality with her expense documentation! Just make sure you save EVERYTHING and follow their guidelines exactly.
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Isabella Santos
•This happened to SO MANY tourism businesses! They're extremely picky about the documentation. I know at least 3 businesses in Lake George that had to return funds. The state is desperate to claw back money from these programs. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING x1000!
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Amina Diallo
•That's concerning - thanks for the warning. Did your sister apply through Empire State Development too? I wonder if that specific audit issue has been fixed in this year's program.
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Oliver Schulz
Just to clarify some confusion I'm seeing in this thread: The Tourism Recovery Fund is administered by Empire State Development (ESD), not NYSDOL. That's why you can't find info on the NYSDOL website. Here's what you need to know: 1. For Shared Work questions: Contact NYSDOL Employer Services at 518-457-2635 2. For Tourism Recovery Fund: Contact ESD at 518-292-5350 And yes, your employees can continue receiving partial UI benefits through Shared Work while your business receives a tourism grant. These programs were specifically designed to work together to help businesses recover.
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Amina Diallo
•Thank you for these specific contact numbers! I'll try calling ESD directly for the tourism fund information. This makes so much more sense now - I was looking in the wrong place entirely.
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Isabella Santos
This whole system is DESIGNED to be confusing! They want small businesses to give up so they don't have to pay out the funds. I've been through THREE different NY state grant programs since 2021 and each one had different requirements, different websites, and ZERO coordination between departments. And then they wonder why tourism is recovering so slowly in NY state compared to other states! It's because they make it IMPOSSIBLE to actually get help without hiring a consultant just to navigate the paperwork!
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Natasha Kuznetsova
•truth!!!! took my buddy filling out the same forms 3 times cuz they kept losing them lol
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Amina Diallo
•It's definitely frustrating trying to figure out which department handles what. Did you end up getting funding from any of those grant programs? Was it worth the hassle?
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Malik Davis
My cousin works for the tourism board upstate and she said they're prioritizing businesses that can show they're retaining jobs through programs like Shared Work. So make sure you highlight that in your application - that you're using both programs together to keep people employed. Apparently they're looking for that specifically this year.
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Amina Diallo
•That's really good to know - I'll definitely emphasize that we're using Shared Work to retain all our employees. Thanks for the insider tip!
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Emma Wilson
One important distinction that hasn't been mentioned: The 2025 Tourism Recovery Fund program requires you to demonstrate that at least 25% of your business revenue comes from out-of-state visitors. They're asking for different documentation this year than in previous programs, so start gathering: 1. Visitor logs/data showing geographic origins 2. Credit card transaction data showing out-of-state cards 3. Booking platform data showing customer origins This is in ADDITION to the financial loss documentation. The Shared Work program doesn't have this requirement since it's focused on employee retention rather than tourism specifically.
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Amina Diallo
•Oh wow, I hadn't heard about the 25% out-of-state requirement. That might actually be a problem for us since most of our customers are from within NY state. I'll have to look more carefully at our customer data. Thank you for pointing this out!
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