NYS Department of Labor unemployment benefits calculation for extremely low wages - how much will I get if I make $3?
I'm trying to figure out what my unemployment benefits would be if I only made $3 total during my base period. I know this sounds weird but I had a really complicated work situation last year where I basically only worked one day at minimum wage before getting let go due to budget cuts. I've been looking at the NYS Department of Labor website but all their examples show people making way more money. Does anyone know if there's a minimum benefit amount or would I just get nothing? I'm really stressed about this because I need to know if it's even worth filing a claim.
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Sofia Rodriguez
Unfortunately, with only $3 in wages during your base period, you wouldn't qualify for unemployment benefits in New York. The NYS Department of Labor requires you to have earned at least $2,700 in one quarter OR $1,800 in your highest quarter plus total base period wages of at least 1.5 times your high quarter wages. Your $3 doesn't meet either threshold.
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NightOwl42
•That's what I was afraid of. So basically I worked for nothing and can't get any help from unemployment either. This system is so frustrating.
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Dmitry Ivanov
wait what kind of job only paid you $3 total??? that doesn't even sound legal
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NightOwl42
•It was a weird situation with a catering company where I worked like 4 hours but they had some payroll issues and only processed part of what they owed me before going out of business.
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Ava Thompson
You might want to look into other assistance programs since UI won't work for you. Also, if that employer didn't pay you properly, you should file a wage complaint with the NYS Department of Labor. They have a separate division that handles unpaid wages and that $3 might not reflect what you're actually owed.
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NightOwl42
•I never thought about filing a wage complaint. How would I go about doing that? The company is completely gone now though.
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Ava Thompson
•You can still file even if the company closed. Go to the NYS Department of Labor website and look for 'Wage and Hour Division' - they handle unpaid wage claims. If you're owed more money than what shows up on your records, getting that corrected could potentially help you qualify for benefits later.
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Miguel Herrera
I had trouble reaching the NYS Department of Labor about my wage records too. Took forever to get through on the phone until someone told me about claimyr.com - they help you actually connect with agents instead of getting hung up on. There's a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Might be worth trying if you need to talk to someone about the wage complaint process.
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Zainab Ali
•Never heard of that service but honestly anything is better than sitting on hold for hours just to get disconnected
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Connor Murphy
This whole situation sounds fishy to me. No legitimate employer pays someone $3 for ANY amount of work. You definitely got scammed and should pursue that wage complaint. Also check if you worked anywhere else during your base period - even small amounts from multiple jobs can add up to meet the minimum requirements.
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Zainab Ali
same thing happened to my cousin but with a different amount, the unemployment office basically laughed at him when he tried to file with such low wages
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