NYS Department of Labor unemployment weekly claim questions - confused about work reporting

Volunteer work doesn't count as work for weekly claims - only paid employment needs to be reported. The 3-hour interview definitely doesn't count as work either, that's just job searching which is actually required. For the able and available question, a single doctors appointment won't disqualify you as long as you're generally available for work the rest of the week.

The NYS Department of Labor weekly claim questions can be tricky at first but you get used to them. The key things to remember: only report PAID work, keep track of your job search activities (you need to do at least 3 work search activities per week), and be honest about your availability. If you're sick for more than 3 days in a week or have major scheduling conflicts, that's when you might need to answer no to able and available.

I had so much trouble getting through to someone at NYS Department of Labor when I had weekly claim questions last month. Kept getting disconnected after waiting on hold forever. Finally used this 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. Made the whole process so much easier than trying to call myself.

ugh the weekly claims are such a pain!! i always stress about whether im answering everything right. last week i accidentally hit yes instead of no on one question and had to call to fix it. took forever to get through.