What do you have to do to get unemployment benefits in New York?

To qualify for NYS Department of Labor unemployment benefits, you need to meet a few basic requirements. First, you must have earned enough wages during your base period (usually the first 4 of the last 5 quarters). Second, you must be unemployed through no fault of your own (like a layoff). Third, you must be able and available to work and actively seeking employment. You'll need your Social Security number, previous employer information, and bank details for direct deposit. File your claim online at my.ny.gov as soon as possible after your last day of work.

The NYS Department of Labor calculates your weekly benefit amount based on your highest earning quarter during the base period. For part-time work at $18/hour, it really depends on how many hours you were working consistently. You can get an estimate on the my.ny.gov website before you file. Also make sure you start filing weekly claims immediately after your initial application - don't wait for approval or you might miss out on benefits for those weeks.

One thing they don't always tell you upfront is that you need to do job search activities to keep getting benefits. You have to log into the NYS Department of Labor system every week and record your job search efforts. I think it's at least 3 job contacts per week but check the current requirements. Also if you're having trouble getting through to the NYS Department of Labor by phone (which happens a lot), there's a service called Claimyr at claimyr.com that helps people reach agents. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Saved me hours of calling when I had questions about my claim status.

honestly the whole system is such a pain... took me forever to get my first payment and then they put my claim under adjudication for like a month for no reason. but yeah file online ASAP and make sure all your info is exactly right or they'll delay everything