NYS Department of Labor excessive earnings disqualification - what does this mean exactly?
Got a notice from NYS Department of Labor saying my unemployment claim was disqualified due to 'excessive earnings' but I'm confused about what this actually means. I've been working part-time while collecting benefits and reporting all my hours like I'm supposed to. Last week I worked 28 hours at $18/hour which came to about $504 before taxes. Is this considered excessive? I thought you could work part-time and still get some unemployment as long as you report it. Can someone explain what the excessive earnings threshold actually is?
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Malik Robinson
Excessive earnings means you earned more than your weekly benefit rate plus $50 in any given week. So if your weekly benefit amount is $300, you can earn up to $350 total that week and still get partial benefits. Once you go over that threshold, you get no unemployment for that week and if it happens repeatedly, they may disqualify your entire claim.
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GalaxyGlider
•Oh wow, my weekly benefit rate is only $320 so I was way over the limit at $504. I had no idea there was a specific dollar threshold like that!
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Isabella Silva
yeah this happened to me too last year, they dont explain it very well when you file your weekly claim. basically if you make too much money in one week you lose benefits for that week AND it can mess up your whole claim if you do it multiple times
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Ravi Choudhury
•The key is staying under your weekly benefit rate plus $50. NYS Department of Labor expects you to work reduced hours, not full-time or close to it. If you're consistently earning near your full-time wages, they consider that you're no longer unemployed.
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Freya Andersen
I had this same issue and couldn't get through to NYS Department of Labor for weeks to understand what happened. Finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual agent who explained everything. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. The agent told me I could appeal the disqualification if I could show it was a one-time thing and not a pattern.
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GalaxyGlider
•That's exactly my problem - I can never get through to anyone! How much does that service cost?
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Freya Andersen
•It's way cheaper than losing weeks of benefits, that's for sure. They basically handle the calling for you so you don't have to sit on hold for hours.
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Omar Farouk
The excessive earnings rule is frustrating because they want you to look for work but then penalize you for actually finding work! I think the calculation is gross earnings before taxes too, not take-home pay, which makes it even easier to go over the limit accidentally.
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Malik Robinson
•You're correct - it's based on gross earnings. And yes, it does seem counterintuitive, but the idea is that unemployment is meant to replace lost wages, not supplement full-time employment.
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CosmicCadet
omg this is so confusing!! I just started working part time and reporting everything but now I'm scared I'm going to get disqualified too. How do you even calculate what you can earn without going over??
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Ravi Choudhury
To avoid excessive earnings, take your weekly benefit rate and add $50. That's your maximum gross earnings for the week. Anything over that amount results in no benefits for that week. If you earn less than that, they'll reduce your benefits dollar-for-dollar after the first $50. So if your benefit rate is $300 and you earn $100, you'd get $250 in benefits that week ($300 - $50 = $250).
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