NY unemployment application question: How to answer if I lost main job due to layoff but quit part-time job months earlier?

Answer NO. Since you quit your part time job, you didnt lose ALL your employment due to lack of work. Just one of them. But make sure to answer YES to question 1a since you definitely earned more than $5040 at your main job. Don't worry this wont disqualify you from benefits, they just need to know the full picture.

After spinning my wheels for weeks with the ny unemployment online system, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual human at NYSDOL. Talking to an agent got my benefits flowing within days after being stuck for nearly a month. It was the only way I could talk to a live agent who could answer all my specific questions about my application. They also have helpful videos explaining the process: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE

This is a common question that trips people up. The key is to be 100% truthful. If you had another job that you quit voluntarily within the last 18 months, then you did NOT lose ALL employment due to lack of work. So answer NO to question 1 and YES to 1a. They'll probably ask you more details about that part-time job later, including why you left it. Just be honest. As long as your main job ended due to lack of work and was your primary source of income, you should still qualify for benefits.

When I filed my claim last month I had the EXACT same issue!!! I answered No to question 1 since I had quit a small side gig earlier in the year. Then I answered Yes to 1a since my main job paid way more than $5040. Got approved without any problems and started getting payments after the waiting week.

The NY unemployment system is such a hot mess. I swear they intentionally make these questions confusing. Whoever designs these forms should be forced to try to navigate them while broke and stressed 🤬

Let me share my experience handling this exact situation with NY unemployment last year. Answer NO to question 1 and YES to 1a. The system is designed to determine two important things: 1) Whether you lost employment through no fault of your own (which qualifies you for benefits) 2) Whether that employment provided substantial income (the $5040 threshold) Since you voluntarily left your part-time job, you didn't lose ALL employment due to lack of work. But because your main job, which provided substantial income, was lost due to lack of work (layoff), you should still qualify. Be prepared to provide details about both jobs during the process. They'll want to know the reasons for separation from each employer. As long as your main job was lost due to lack of work and provided sufficient earnings, you should be eligible. If you're still having trouble with the application or want to speak with someone directly, I highly recommend using Claimyr.com - it's a service that gets you connected to an actual NYSDOL representative without the endless hold times. Completely changed my experience getting my claim sorted out. Good luck!

honestly the ny unemployment system is pure chaos. i answerd wrong on this exact question and had to appeal and wait 6 weeks for my money. dont make the same mistake i did lol

Anyone else notice they make these forms intentionally confusing? 🙄 It's like they WANT you to answer wrong so they can deny you benefits...

The key to this question is understanding that they need to know if you had ANY employment that ended for reasons other than lack of work. Since you quit your part-time job, answer NO to question 1. But then make sure to answer YES to question 1a to show that your main job (which you did lose due to lack of work) was your primary source of income.

GUYS!!! Don't overthink this!!!! If you had multiple jobs and didn't lose ALL of them due to lack of work, the answer is NO. If your main job paid more than $5040, answer YES to the second part. It's really that simple.

I think wat the question is asking is if the only reason u lost ur job was cuz of lack of work. Since you quit a part time job, that means not ALL of ur employment was lost due to lack of work, some was lost cuz u quit. So answer no to the first part.

I was in almost your EXACT situation six months ago. Had a weekend job that I quit and then got laid off from my main job about 3 months later. I answered NO to the first question and YES to the second question (because my main job definitely paid more than $5040). I got approved without any issues and started receiving benefits after the waiting week.

Why is ny unemployment so freaking complicated? I swear they do this on purpose. Just call them directly, the online system is a nightmare. Took me 5 attempts to get my application right.

The website descriptions of these questions are so bad srsly. Like you almost have to be a lawyer to understand what they are really asking lmao

I'm going through the exact same thing rn! Following this thread for answers 👀

I had this exact same situation last year! I was working full-time at a marketing agency and had a weekend retail job. I quit the retail job in March because the schedule was getting too demanding, then got laid off from my main job in July due to budget cuts. When I saw that question about losing ALL employment due to lack of work, I was totally confused too. I called the NYSDOL helpline (took forever to get through) and the agent explained it like this: if you had ANY job that ended for reasons other than lack of work in the past 18 months, then you didn't lose ALL your employment due to lack of work. So I answered NO to question 1 and YES to question 1a since my main job definitely paid way more than $5040. Got approved without any problems! They did ask me during the phone interview why I left the retail job, but since my primary job loss was clearly due to layoff, it didn't affect my eligibility at all. The key is just being honest about your situation. The system is designed to figure out if your main source of income was lost through no fault of your own, which it sounds like yours was.

I went through something very similar about 6 months ago! I had a main office job and was doing some freelance work on the side. I stopped the freelance work in May because it was getting too overwhelming, then got laid off from my office job in September. Just like everyone else is saying, you need to answer NO to question 1 since you didn't lose ALL your employment due to lack of work - you quit the part-time job voluntarily. Then answer YES to question 1a since your main job definitely paid more than $5040. I was super nervous about this too because I thought having quit the freelance work would hurt my claim, but it didn't at all. During my phone interview, they asked why I stopped freelancing and I just explained it was getting too time-consuming with my full-time job. Since my main job loss was clearly a layoff, that's what they focused on. The whole process took about 3 weeks from application to first payment, and I didn't have any issues with approval. Just be honest about both jobs and you should be fine!

I just went through this exact same situation a few months ago! Had a main job that I got laid off from and a side gig that I had quit earlier. The wording on that question is definitely confusing, but after talking to several people who've been through it, the consensus is clear: answer NO to question 1 since you didn't lose ALL employment due to lack of work (you quit one job voluntarily), then YES to question 1a since your main job paid way more than $5040. I was super worried about this too, but it turned out to be no big deal. They did ask about both jobs during my phone interview, but since my primary income source was clearly lost due to layoff, that's what mattered for eligibility. Got approved and started receiving benefits after the waiting period. The key thing to remember is they're trying to determine if your main source of income was lost through no fault of your own - which it sounds like it was in your case. Don't overthink it, just be honest about your situation and you should be good to go!

I dealt with this exact same situation about 8 months ago! Had a main full-time job and was doing some evening tutoring work that I stopped doing about 2 months before getting laid off from my main job. The wording on that question definitely trips people up, but here's how I understood it after going through the process: they want to know if ALL your employment losses were due to lack of work. Since you voluntarily quit the part-time job, the answer is NO - you didn't lose ALL employment due to lack of work, just your main job. Then for question 1a, definitely answer YES since your main job paid way more than $5040. This combination actually worked perfectly for me - got approved without any issues and started getting payments after the waiting week. During my phone interview, they did ask about both jobs and why I left each one. I just explained that I stopped tutoring because of scheduling conflicts, and that my main job ended due to company downsizing. Since the job that provided most of my income was clearly lost due to lack of work, that's what qualified me for benefits. Don't stress too much about it - just be honest about your situation and you should be fine! The system is actually pretty logical once you understand what they're really asking for.

I went through this exact situation about a year ago! Had a main job that I lost due to layoff and a small side job that I had quit a few months before. The question wording is definitely confusing, but after dealing with it myself, here's what I learned: Answer NO to question 1 because you didn't lose ALL your employment due to lack of work - you voluntarily quit the part-time job. Then answer YES to question 1a since your main job definitely paid more than $5040. I was really worried this would hurt my claim, but it didn't at all. During my phone interview, they asked about both jobs and why I left each one. I explained that I quit the side job for personal reasons and was laid off from my main job due to downsizing. Since my primary income source was clearly lost through no fault of my own, I got approved without any issues. The system is designed to figure out if your main source of income was lost involuntarily, which it sounds like it was in your case. Just be honest about your situation and you should be good to go!

I was in almost the exact same boat about a year ago! Had a main corporate job and was doing some weekend work at a local shop. I quit the weekend job in June because the hours were interfering with my main job, then got laid off from the corporate job in October. The wording on those questions is super confusing, but after going through the whole process, here's what I learned: Answer NO to question 1 because you didn't lose ALL your employment due to lack of work (since you voluntarily quit the part-time job). Then answer YES to question 1a since your main job definitely earned you more than $5040. I was really nervous about this affecting my claim, but it turned out to be totally fine. During my phone interview, they asked about both jobs - why I left the weekend job (I explained it was interfering with my main work schedule) and why I lost the corporate job (layoff due to restructuring). Since my primary income was clearly lost through no fault of my own, I got approved and started receiving benefits after the waiting period. Don't overthink it - just be honest about your situation. The system is designed to identify if your main source of income was lost involuntarily, which it sounds like yours was. You should be good to go!

I just went through this exact situation a few months ago! Had my main job at a tech company and was doing some freelance graphic design work on weekends. I quit the freelance work in April because it was getting too overwhelming, then got laid off from my tech job in August due to company-wide cuts. Just like everyone else has said - answer NO to question 1 since you didn't lose ALL employment due to lack of work (you voluntarily quit the part-time job), then YES to question 1a since your main job definitely paid more than $5040. I was super anxious about this too because I thought having quit the freelance work would hurt my eligibility, but it didn't affect anything at all. During my phone interview, they asked about both jobs and I just explained that I stopped freelancing because it was interfering with my full-time work performance, and that my main job ended due to layoffs. Since my primary income was clearly lost through no fault of my own, I got approved without any issues. The whole process took about 2-3 weeks from application to first payment. Just be completely honest about your work history and you'll be fine! The system really is designed to focus on whether your main source of income was lost involuntarily.

I went through this EXACT same situation about 9 months ago! Had a main office job and was doing some weekend work at a restaurant. Quit the restaurant job in May because the weekend shifts were burning me out, then got laid off from my office job in September due to budget cuts. The wording on those questions is definitely confusing at first, but here's how it worked for me: Answer NO to question 1 because you didn't lose ALL your employment due to lack of work (since you voluntarily quit the part-time job). Then answer YES to question 1a since your main job definitely paid way more than $5040. I was really worried about this too because I thought quitting the restaurant job would somehow disqualify me, but it didn't affect my claim at all. During my phone interview, they asked about both jobs - I explained that I quit the restaurant because of scheduling conflicts and was laid off from my main job due to company downsizing. Since my primary source of income was clearly lost through no fault of my own, I got approved and started receiving benefits after the waiting week. Don't stress about it too much - just be honest about your work history. The system is really designed to determine if your main income source was lost involuntarily, which it sounds like yours definitely was. You should be all set!

I had this exact same situation happen to me about 6 months ago! I was working full-time at a marketing firm and had a small side job doing data entry on evenings. I quit the data entry job in March because it was taking up too much time, then got laid off from my marketing job in July when they had budget cuts. I was so confused by those questions too - the wording is really unclear. But after going through the whole process, here's what I learned: You need to answer NO to question 1 because you didn't lose ALL your employment due to lack of work (since you voluntarily quit the part-time job). Then answer YES to question 1a since your main job definitely paid more than $5040. I was super worried that having quit the side job would hurt my claim, but it didn't affect anything. During my phone interview, they asked about both jobs and I just explained that I quit the data entry work because it was interfering with my main job performance, and that my marketing job ended due to company layoffs. Since my primary income was clearly lost through no fault of my own, I got approved without any issues. The whole process took about 3 weeks from start to first payment. Just be completely honest about your work history and focus on the fact that your main source of income was lost involuntarily. You should be totally fine!

I went through this exact situation about 4 months ago! Had a main full-time job at an accounting firm and was doing some evening bookkeeping work for a small business. I quit the evening work in February because it was getting too stressful juggling both, then got laid off from my main job in June due to company restructuring. The question wording is definitely confusing, but after successfully getting through the whole process, here's what worked for me: Answer NO to question 1 since you didn't lose ALL employment due to lack of work (you voluntarily quit the part-time job), then YES to question 1a since your main job definitely paid more than $5040. I was really anxious about this too because I thought quitting the evening work would somehow mess up my claim, but it had zero impact on my eligibility. During my phone interview, they asked about both positions - I explained that I left the bookkeeping work due to time constraints and was laid off from my main job due to downsizing. Since my primary income source was clearly lost through no fault of my own, I got approved and started receiving benefits after the waiting period. Don't overthink it - the system is really designed to determine whether your main source of income was lost involuntarily. Just be honest about your work history and you'll be good to go!

I went through this exact same situation about 3 months ago! Had a main job at a software company and was doing some weekend tutoring that I quit in April because it was getting too demanding with my regular work schedule. Then got laid off from my main job in August due to company downsizing. The wording on those questions is super confusing, but after successfully completing the whole process, here's what I learned: Answer NO to question 1 because you didn't lose ALL your employment due to lack of work (since you voluntarily quit the part-time job). Then answer YES to question 1a since your main job definitely paid way more than $5040. I was really worried that quitting the tutoring job would affect my eligibility, but it didn't impact my claim at all. During my phone interview, they asked about both jobs - I explained that I stopped tutoring due to scheduling conflicts and was laid off from my software job due to budget cuts. Since my primary income source was clearly lost through no fault of my own, I got approved without any issues. The whole process took about 2 weeks from application to first payment. Just be completely honest about your work history and remember that they're really looking at whether your main source of income was lost involuntarily. You should be totally fine - don't stress too much about it!

I went through this exact situation about 5 months ago! Had a main job at a healthcare company and was doing some freelance writing work that I quit in March because it was taking up too much time. Then got laid off from my main job in July due to company restructuring. The question wording is definitely tricky, but here's what worked for me: Answer NO to question 1 since you didn't lose ALL employment due to lack of work (you voluntarily quit the part-time job), then YES to question 1a since your main job definitely paid more than $5040. I was super nervous about this too because I thought quitting the freelance work would hurt my claim, but it had no impact at all on my eligibility. During my phone interview, they asked about both jobs - I explained that I stopped freelancing due to time management issues and was laid off from my main job due to downsizing. Since my primary income source was clearly lost through no fault of my own, I got approved and started receiving benefits after the waiting week. The whole process took about 2-3 weeks from application to first payment. Just be honest about your work history and focus on the fact that your main source of income was lost involuntarily. The system really is designed to identify whether your primary income was lost through no fault of your own - you should be good to go!