NYS Department of Labor unemployment benefit amount - how much is the unemployment benefit?
I just got approved for unemployment after being laid off from my retail job last month. My weekly benefit amount shows $182 on my account but I'm not sure if this is right? I was making about $520 a week before taxes at my last job. Is there a way to calculate what your unemployment benefit should be? I tried looking on the NYS Department of Labor website but it's confusing with all the formulas and base periods.
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Anastasia Kozlov
Your weekly benefit amount is calculated based on your highest quarter of earnings in your base period, which is usually the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters before you filed. NYS Department of Labor takes 1/26th of your highest quarter earnings. So if you earned around $6,700 in your best quarter, $182 weekly would be about right. You can verify this by looking at your monetary determination notice.
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NeonNebula
•That makes sense! I think my best quarter was around $6,800 so the calculation seems correct. Thanks for explaining it.
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Sean Kelly
yeah the formula is confusing but basically its about 35% of what you were making weekly, sometimes less depending on your work history
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Zara Mirza
The maximum weekly benefit in NY for 2025 is $504, so you're getting a decent amount relative to what you earned. Remember you also need to keep filing your weekly claims and do your job search activities to keep receiving benefits. The NYS Department of Labor requires 3 work search contacts per week.
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Luca Russo
•Wait, I thought it was only 2 job searches per week? I've been doing 2 and haven't had any issues with my weekly claims.
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Zara Mirza
•It's 3 work search activities per week as of 2023. You might want to double-check your requirements to avoid any issues with future claims.
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Nia Harris
If you're having trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor to ask about your benefit calculation, I had success using a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com). They help you get through to an actual agent without waiting on hold forever. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Really helped when I needed to verify my benefit amount was calculated correctly.
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NeonNebula
•Thanks, I'll check that out if I need to call them. The phone lines are always so busy.
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GalaxyGazer
Just remember your unemployment is taxable income! I forgot about that my first time and got hit with a big tax bill. You can have them withhold 10% for federal taxes when you file your weekly claims.
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