Self-employed with COVID - can I get ny unemployment benefits?

Unfortunately no. If you're 1099, you don't qualify for regular unemployment in NY. That PUA thing from the pandemic days is gone now. You might wanna look into disability options though.

After months of going nowhere with ny unemployment, I finally found this service called claimyr.com that got me through to a real human being. Talking to an agent got my situation resolved in like 20 minutes when I'd been stuck for weeks. Best money I've spent considering how much I was owed. They called and waited on hold, then connected me when an agent picked up! Check out this vid about how it works: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE

Sorry to hear about your situation. As a self-employed person myself, I know how frustrating this is. NY doesn't provide unemployment for us 1099 folks under normal circumstances. What you MIGHT qualify for is NYS Paid Family Leave if you have that coverage - but most self-employed people don't unless they specifically opted in.

The rule is that in NY, you have to have been a W-2 employee for someone else to get regular unemployment benefits. If you're pure 1099, there's nothing for you right now. The only exception was during the height of the pandemic when PUA was a thing, but that program ended ages ago.

Hey, have you looked into COVID sick leave? NY had special provisions for COVID specifically. Not sure if they're still active but worth checking out.

Lets be honest here: the system is rigged against self-employed ppl. We pay self-employment tax which is DOUBLE what employees pay for social security and medicare, but we cant get unemployment. It's complete BS.

When I called ny unemployment about this same issue (I'm a freelance writer), the agent actually laughed and said "that's what savings are for." Like thanks dude, real helpful 🙄

I'm a 1099 contractor too and I had COVID last month. Here's what I learned after spending HOURS on this: Regular unemployment - NOT eligible COVID emergency unemployment - EXPIRED NYS disability - ONLY if you opted in (most don't) Paid sick leave - DOESN'T apply to self-employed Basically we're on our own. The only thing I found helpful was calling my clients directly and explaining the situation. Most gave me extensions on deadlines. If you absolutely need to talk to unemployment to confirm this (which I did because I couldn't believe there was NOTHING), use claimyr.com to get through the phone system. It costs money but saved me hours of hold time and at least I got a definitive answer instead of just getting disconnected over and over.

mods should just make a sticky post that says "1099 = no regular unemployment" because this question gets asked like 5 times a week lol

anyone else think it's crazy how NY unemployment was giving out money like candy during covid (even to ppl who didn't qualify) and now they're back to being stingy af?

Try talking to an accountant about what you can write off while you're sick. Not ideal but at least you might save some money on taxes next year if you have medical expenses. Small consolation I know...

Check if your town or county has any emergency assistance programs. Some localities still have covid relief funds that haven't been fully distributed. Local charities might help too.

Not a solution to your immediate problem, but for future protection: all self-employed people in NY can voluntarily elect to pay into the state disability insurance system. It costs like 60 cents per $100 of income up to a cap. Most don't know this is an option but it's worth considering going forward.