What is WBA on my NYS Department of Labor unemployment claim - confused about weekly benefit amount
I'm looking at my unemployment claim status on my.ny.gov and keep seeing 'WBA' listed but I have no idea what this means. Is this my weekly benefit amount? The number shows $365 but I'm not sure if that's what I'll actually get each week when I file my weekly claims. This is my first time filing for unemployment in New York and all these abbreviations are confusing me. Can someone explain what WBA means and if that's actually how much I'll receive?
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Arnav Bengali
Yes, WBA stands for Weekly Benefit Amount. That $365 is your maximum weekly benefit before taxes. You'll receive this amount each week as long as you're totally unemployed and file your weekly claims on time. If you work part-time while collecting, your benefits will be reduced based on your earnings.
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Scarlett Forster
•Thank you! So if I don't work at all that week, I get the full $365? Do I need to request it somewhere or does it happen automatically?
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Sayid Hassan
You still have to file your weekly claim every week even if you didn't work. The NYS Department of Labor doesn't pay automatically - you have to certify each week that you're still unemployed and looking for work.
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Rachel Tao
Just remember they'll take out taxes unless you opt out. I learned that the hard way when I got my first payment and it was less than my WBA. You can change your tax withholding settings in your my.ny.gov account.
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Scarlett Forster
•Oh wow, I had no idea about taxes being taken out. How much do they usually withhold?
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Brooklyn Foley
•They usually withhold 10% for federal taxes if you choose to have taxes taken out. So on a $365 WBA, you'd get around $328.50 after taxes. You can adjust this in your account settings under tax withholding options.
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Derek Olson
WBA is weekly benefit amount, MB is maximum benefit (total you can collect), and there's also stuff like DBA (dependent benefit allowance) if you have kids. The unemployment system loves their acronyms lol
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Danielle Mays
•What's the difference between WBA and DBA? I have two kids under 18.
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Connor O'Neill
•@Danielle Mays DBA Dependent (Benefit Allowance is) extra money added to your WBA for each dependent child under 18. In NY it s'usually around $25-50 per child added to your weekly amount. So if your WBA is $300 and you have 2 kids, you might get an extra $50-100 per week on top of that. Check your claim details - it should show both amounts separately.
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Roger Romero
If you're having trouble reaching someone at NYS Department of Labor to get clarification on your benefits, I had success using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an actual agent. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Saved me hours of calling and getting busy signals.
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Scarlett Forster
•I'll check that out if I need to call them. Right now I think I understand the WBA part but might have more questions later.
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Anna Kerber
just make sure you do your job search requirements too or they'll cut off your benefits even if your WBA looks good
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