NYS Department of Labor unemployment taxes - employer withholding confusion about federal requirements

Actually, you've got this backwards. Employers pay FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax Act) taxes TO the government, not FROM your paycheck. You shouldn't see FUTA deductions on your pay stub because it's an employer-paid tax, not an employee-paid tax. This won't affect your NYS Department of Labor claim at all - your eligibility is based on your work history and wages earned, not on what taxes were withheld.

yeah this is super confusing stuff. i thought the same thing when i first filed UI. your employer pays state and federal unemployment taxes but you dont see it on your paystub because its not your money being taken out

To clarify further - FUTA is paid entirely by employers at 6% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages (though most get credits that reduce this to 0.6%). NYS Department of Labor also requires employers to pay state unemployment insurance taxes. These fund the unemployment insurance system, but they're business expenses, not payroll deductions. Your weekly claim certification process with NYS Department of Labor will ask about wages earned, not taxes paid.

I had similar confusion when dealing with NYS Department of Labor representatives about my claim status. If you need to speak with someone directly about your specific situation, I found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Really saved me hours of trying to call the regular NYS Department of Labor number.

THE WHOLE TAX SYSTEM IS SO CONFUSING!!! Why don't they teach this stuff in school? I've been working for 10 years and still learning new things about how unemployment works. At least now I know my employer was doing things correctly.