NY unemployment system confused by my part-time work hours - now wants to know why I'm 'not working' when I still am

Same thing happened to me last month. The system is glitchy and doesn't understand part-time ongoing work. When you put in different hours each week it thinks you stopped working entirely. I called and the rep told me to just answer with my employer info again and for the question about why you're not working anymore, select "still working reduced hours". Don't panic, its just the system being dumb.

After spending weeks trying to get through to someone at unemployment, I finally tried this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) and they got me connected to a real agent in about 20 minutes. Talking to an actual human was the only way I got my partial employment situation fixed - the agent explained that the system triggers these questions sometimes with variable hours but it's totally fixable. Seriously worth it to talk to a real person rather than fighting with that broken website! https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE

This is a known issue with the ny unemployment system. If your hours vary at all from week to week (even by 1-2 hours), sometimes it triggers this weird "break in employment" flag. Just re-enter your employer info exactly the same and select "still employed" or "reduced hours" when it asks why you're not working. Your benefit amount might be delayed a day or two but should process normally.

Had this exact issue back in february!!! The system is TRASH. What I did was call them (took like 500 tries) and they fixed it on their end. Apparently there's a glitch with how the system tracks variable part-time work hours. If your hours changed by more than 20% between weeks it sometimes triggers this stupid question.

I manage a staff of part-timers who are on partial unemployment and we deal with this ALL THE TIME. Here's what I tell my team to do: 1. When it asks for employer info, just re-enter the same info as before 2. When it asks why you're no longer working, select "Still working but with reduced hours" 3. For the "break in employment" question, select NO 4. Take screenshots of everything in case there's an issue later The system sometimes gets confused when your hours fluctuate week to week. If it's consistently the same hours, it usually doesn't trigger this, but if you worked 10 one week and 15 the next, the algorithm thinks you quit or something stupid. If you get stuck in a certification loop or it won't let you continue, that's when you absolutely need to call. Using claimyr.com saved one of my employees days of frustration - they connected to an agent who fixed it immediately instead of the endless busy signals of calling directly. One more tip: document EVERYTHING. Keep a spreadsheet of your hours worked, pay received, and unemployment received each week. The NY unemployment system makes mistakes constantly, and you need to be ready to prove what you're owed if things go sideways.

DONT answer that u stopped working!!! The system will immediately freeze ur benefits and flag ur account. I did this by accident and it took 2 months to fix. If ur still working part time make sure u select that option!

Why does ny unemployment make everything so complicated?? Like seriously, part-time work is super common, how is this not figured out yet?

I work as a server with different hours every week and this happens to me almost monthly. Just keep selecting "still employed with reduced hours" and re-enter employer info when prompted. It's annoying but your claim should process normally. If it gets stuck completely, you'll need to call, which is its own level of hell. I finally broke down and used claimyr.com after 3 weeks of trying to get through on my own.

Just FYI they added a new field in the certification questions specifically for variable gig work/part time about 2 months ago. When it asks about employment status, look for "Variable part-time employment with same employer" - that option should prevent these issues. If you don't see it, your claim might need to be updated to the new system.

anyone else getting random payment delays lately? my friend had this same issue and after answering all the questions correctly her payment is now "pending" for over a week...

when I ran into this last year it was because the system thought I quit the job entirely and then started a new job with the same employer 🤦‍♀️ absolutely ridiculous. Just call them and have them fix it on their end - trying to navigate their broken certification system will just lead to more problems