NYS Department of Labor layoff vs fired unemployment - does it matter for my claim?

Yes, there's definitely a difference for unemployment purposes. If you were laid off due to company restructuring or budget cuts, that's considered separation through no fault of your own and you should qualify for benefits. Being fired for performance or misconduct can disqualify you. Since your termination letter says 'position eliminated due to restructuring,' that sounds like a layoff to me. The performance warning might not matter if the official reason was restructuring.

be honest about everything when you file. if your employer contests your claim they'll bring up the performance issues anyway and it looks worse if you didn't mention it. NYS Department of Labor will investigate and determine if the real reason was performance or restructuring

I went through something similar last year. Company said layoffs but I know they kept people who had worse performance than me. When I filed my UI claim, I explained exactly what happened - got the warning but then was told it was budget cuts. NYS Department of Labor approved my benefits after investigating. The key is being truthful and letting them decide. If you try to hide the performance issue and they find out later, that could cause bigger problems.

This is exactly why I had such a hard time when I got let go. Couldn't get through to anyone at NYS Department of Labor to ask these questions and the website wasn't clear about mixed situations like this. I ended up using Claimyr to get connected to an actual agent who could explain how they handle these gray area cases. They have a good video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Made it so much easier to get real answers instead of guessing.

THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS SET UP TO CONFUSE PEOPLE! They make these distinctions but don't explain them clearly anywhere. I spent hours on the NYS Department of Labor website trying to figure out if my situation counted as misconduct or not. They should just ask for the facts and make the determination themselves instead of making us guess.

Just be completely honest when you file. Include both the restructuring reason from your termination letter AND mention the performance warning. Let NYS Department of Labor sort it out during adjudication if your employer contests it. The worst thing you can do is leave out important details that they'll discover anyway.

I had a very similar situation a few months ago - got laid off during "restructuring" but had received some performance feedback earlier. Here's what I learned: NYS Department of Labor cares more about the immediate cause of separation than past performance issues. If your termination letter says position eliminated due to restructuring, that's usually considered involuntary separation through no fault of your own. The performance warning from a month ago probably won't disqualify you unless it was for serious misconduct. When you file, mention both - the restructuring reason and the prior warning - but emphasize that the official reason was budget cuts/restructuring. This shows you're being transparent while making it clear the separation wasn't performance-based. Most importantly, file as soon as possible since there's a waiting period anyway.