What is earnings allowance on NYS Department of Labor unemployment - confused about part-time work rules
I've been getting UI benefits for about 6 weeks now and just got offered some part-time work at a retail store. When I looked at my weekly claim form, there's this section about 'earnings allowance' but I have no idea what that means. I'm scared to take the job because I don't want to mess up my benefits or get an overpayment notice later. Does anyone know how this earnings allowance thing works with NYS Department of Labor? Like can I work a few hours and still get some unemployment money?
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Jacob Lewis
The earnings allowance in New York lets you work part-time and still collect some unemployment benefits. Basically, you can earn up to 25% of your weekly benefit rate without any reduction. Anything above that gets deducted dollar-for-dollar from your benefits. So if your weekly benefit is $400, you can earn up to $100 without losing any unemployment money.
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Mia Rodriguez
•Wait so if I make like $150 that week, they'd take $50 off my $400 benefit? So I'd get $350 plus the $150 I earned?
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Amelia Martinez
yeah thats right but make sure you report ALL your earnings on your weekly claim even if its just like $20. i made that mistake once and got flagged for not reporting income
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Ethan Clark
•This is super important - NYS Department of Labor cross-references your earnings with employer reports. Even if you think it's too small to matter, report everything. The system is pretty good at catching unreported income these days.
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Mila Walker
I've been doing part-time work for months while on unemployment and it's actually worked out really well. The earnings allowance basically encourages you to take whatever work you can find. Just remember you still have to do your job search requirements even when you're working part-time.
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Mia Rodriguez
•Oh good point about the job search stuff. I totally forgot about that. Do I still need to apply to 3 jobs a week if I'm working part-time?
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Jacob Lewis
•Yes, you still need to meet the job search requirements unless you're working more than 30 hours per week. The part-time work doesn't exempt you from looking for full-time employment.
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Logan Scott
ugh the whole earnings thing is so confusing!! I've been trying to call NYS Department of Labor for weeks to ask about this but can never get through. The phone system just hangs up on you after being on hold forever. How is anyone supposed to get answers about this stuff?
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Ethan Clark
•I had the same problem trying to reach someone at NYS Department of Labor about my earnings questions. Actually found this service called Claimyr that helped me get through to an actual agent. You can check it out at claimyr.com - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Basically they handle all the calling and waiting for you.
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Chloe Green
Just wanted to add that the earnings allowance is calculated on your gross pay, not your take-home. So if you earn $120 gross but only take home $95 after taxes, they use the $120 number for the calculation.
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