What is considered full time for unemployment benefits in NYS?

For NYS unemployment purposes, full-time work is generally considered 30+ hours per week. However, what matters more for your weekly claim is your gross earnings, not just the hours. You can work part-time and still collect partial benefits as long as your earnings don't exceed your benefit rate plus $50. Make sure you're reporting all work and earnings on your weekly claim certification.

yeah i think its like 32 hours or something but honestly the earnings matter more like the other person said. i worked 20 hours last week and still got most of my benefits

The key thing to understand is that NYS Department of Labor uses a formula to calculate partial benefits. If you work less than 4 days OR earn less than your benefit rate plus $50, you can still receive partial unemployment. The exact hour threshold isn't as important as staying under the earnings limit. Always report your gross earnings before any deductions when you file your weekly claim.

I had trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to ask about this exact question last month. Spent hours on hold and kept getting disconnected. Finally found 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. The agent was able to explain my specific situation and how my part-time earnings would affect my benefits.

Just want to add that you need to keep doing your job search activities even when working part-time. NYS Department of Labor still requires you to look for full-time work and log your job contacts. Don't let the part-time work make you forget about that requirement.

thanks everyone this thread answered my question too! been wondering about this for weeks

Just to clarify the earlier responses - in NY, you can work part-time and still collect partial unemployment benefits. The important thing is to always report your gross weekly earnings (before taxes) when you file your weekly certification. As long as your earnings are less than your weekly benefit rate plus $50, you'll still get some benefits. Also remember that if you work 4 or more days in a week, even if the total hours are low, it might affect your eligibility for that week. The NYS DOL website has a partial benefits calculator that can help you estimate what you'd receive based on your earnings.