NYS Department of Labor - how much can you make and still get unemployment benefits?
Started a part-time gig last week and want to make sure I don't mess up my UI claim. Does anyone know the current earnings limit for NYS Department of Labor? I'm seeing conflicting info online about how much you can earn before they reduce your weekly benefit or cut you off completely. My benefit amount is $320/week and this new job pays $15/hour but only gives me like 10-15 hours. Should I be worried about going over some threshold?
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Hiroshi Nakamura
You can earn up to 25% of your weekly benefit rate before they start reducing your unemployment payment. In your case, that's about $80 per week ($320 x 0.25 = $80). Anything over that amount gets deducted dollar-for-dollar from your weekly benefit. So if you earn $150 in a week, they'll subtract $70 from your $320 benefit, leaving you with $250. Just make sure you report ALL earnings when you file your weekly claim - even if it's just $10.
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GamerGirl99
•Thanks! So basically I can work about 5-6 hours per week at $15/hour and still get my full benefit. That helps a lot.
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Isabella Costa
wait I thought it was different than that?? I've been working like 20 hours a week and still getting some unemployment money. Maybe the rules changed recently or something
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Hiroshi Nakamura
•You're probably thinking of the old partial benefit formula. As long as you're working less than 4 days per week and earning under a certain amount, you can still qualify for reduced benefits. It's not just a simple cutoff.
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Malik Jenkins
Be super careful about reporting this correctly on your weekly claim. I know someone who got hit with an overpayment notice because they didn't report some cash work they did. NYS Department of Labor cross-references with tax records so they'll find out eventually if you don't report everything.
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GamerGirl99
•Yeah definitely planning to report everything. This job is on the books so there's a paper trail anyway.
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Freya Andersen
I've been trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor for weeks to ask this exact question but their phone lines are impossible. If you need to talk to someone directly about your specific situation, I recently used claimyr.com - they actually got me connected to a real person at NYS Department of Labor within like 20 minutes. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Saved me hours of calling and getting busy signals.
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Eduardo Silva
•How much does that cost though? I'm already struggling financially
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Freya Andersen
•It's way cheaper than losing benefits because of a mistake or misunderstanding. Plus if you're working part-time like OP, you probably want to make sure you're doing everything right.
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Leila Haddad
ugh the whole partial work thing is SO confusing. I've been avoiding taking any work because I'm scared I'll mess something up and owe money back. The NYS Department of Labor website doesn't explain it very clearly either.
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Hiroshi Nakamura
•You shouldn't avoid work entirely! The system is designed to encourage people to take part-time work while looking for full-time employment. Just report everything honestly and you'll be fine.
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