NYS Department of Labor seasonal unemployment claim - what does this classification mean for my benefits?

Seasonal unemployment is when you're temporarily unemployed because your job only exists during certain times of the year. Tourism, agriculture, construction, retail during holidays - these are common seasonal industries. For NYS Department of Labor purposes, you're still required to actively search for work and be available for employment unless you have a specific return-to-work date within 10 weeks. Even if your ski resort plans to rehire you, that's not guaranteed employment so you need to keep looking for other work.

yeah i had the same thing when i worked at a water park, they called it seasonal but i still had to log 3 job contacts per week or whatever. its annoying but thats the rules

The key thing is that seasonal unemployment still counts as regular UI benefits - same weekly benefit amount, same duration. Some people think seasonal workers get different treatment but that's not how it works in NY. You file your weekly claims the same way and follow all the same job search requirements. The 'seasonal' designation is mainly for record-keeping purposes by NYS Department of Labor.

I've been dealing with NYS Department of Labor for months trying to get through to someone about my seasonal claim status. The phone system is absolutely terrible - I've been hung up on so many times I've lost count. Finally found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually gets you connected to a real person at unemployment. They have a video demo that shows exactly how it works: https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI. Saved me hours of frustration trying to reach someone to clarify my job search requirements.

THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO CONFUSE PEOPLE!! They make it so complicated on purpose so fewer people actually collect what they're owed. Seasonal, regular, partial - they have all these categories just to make it harder to navigate. I worked construction for 15 years and dealt with this seasonal BS every winter.

Wait, so if I work at a beach club that's only open May through September, when I file in October would that automatically be considered seasonal unemployment? Or do I have to specify that somewhere in my application?