What are excess wages for unemployment claims in NYS?
I'm really confused about something on my NYS Department of Labor weekly claim. There's a section asking about 'excess wages' and I have no idea what this means. I worked part-time while collecting UI benefits and reported all my earnings like I'm supposed to. Now I'm worried I might have done something wrong. Can someone explain what excess wages are and how they affect my unemployment benefits? I don't want to mess up my claim status.
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Emily Sanjay
Excess wages refer to any earnings you receive above your weekly benefit rate that NYS Department of Labor uses to calculate partial benefits. When you work part-time while collecting unemployment, they subtract your earnings from your benefit amount, but there's a formula involved. If your gross wages exceed a certain threshold relative to your benefit rate, those are considered excess wages and can reduce or eliminate your weekly payment.
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Sebastian Scott
•So if I earn more than my weekly benefit amount, that's when excess wages kick in? I've been keeping my hours low to stay under that threshold.
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Jordan Walker
yeah i had this happen to me last year, basically if you make too much in a week you get nothing for that week but it doesn't hurt your overall claim
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Natalie Adams
The NYS Department of Labor calculation works like this: they allow you to earn up to $504 or 25% of your weekly benefit rate (whichever is higher) without any reduction. Anything above that gets deducted dollar-for-dollar from your benefits. If your earnings exceed your full benefit amount plus the allowable earnings, you get zero benefits for that week but don't lose those benefit weeks permanently.
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Elijah O'Reilly
•Wait, I thought the threshold was different? I've been so confused about this whole partial benefits thing and whether I'm reporting correctly.
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Natalie Adams
•The rules can be confusing! Make sure you're looking at current NYS Department of Labor guidelines since they've changed over the years. If you're unsure about your specific situation, you might want to call them directly.
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Amara Torres
I had major issues getting through to NYS Department of Labor about this exact question. Their phone system is impossible! Spent weeks trying to get clarification on my excess wages calculation. Finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually got me connected to a real agent who explained everything. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Game changer for getting actual answers instead of guessing.
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Sebastian Scott
•That's interesting, I've never heard of that service. Did they help you understand the whole partial benefits calculation?
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Amara Torres
•Yeah, the agent walked me through exactly how my wages were being calculated against my benefit rate. Much clearer than trying to figure it out from the website.
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Olivia Van-Cleve
The whole excess wages thing is just another way for them to make the system more complicated than it needs to be. I've been dealing with UI for months and every week there's some new confusion about what counts as what.
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Mason Kaczka
Make sure you keep detailed records of all your earnings when you report them! I learned this the hard way when they questioned my wage reporting later during an audit.
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Sebastian Scott
•Good point about keeping records. I've been saving all my pay stubs just in case.
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AstroAce
Thanks everyone for the helpful explanations! I'm still a bit confused about the exact calculation though. Does anyone know if the $504 threshold mentioned earlier is still current? I've been trying to find the most up-to-date info on the NYS DOL website but it's not super clear. Also, when they say "gross wages" - does that include tips if you work in a restaurant or just your base hourly pay?
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