What is unemployment base period - NYS Department of Labor calculation seems wrong
I'm trying to figure out my unemployment benefit amount and the NYS Department of Labor portal shows a base period that doesn't make sense to me. I filed my claim in January 2025 but they're using wages from like 2023? I made way more money in 2024 working at two different jobs. Can someone explain how the base period works and why they wouldn't use my most recent earnings? This is affecting my weekly benefit rate and I think there's been a mistake.
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Isabella Costa
The base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file your claim. So if you filed in January 2025, your base period would be January 2024 through December 2024. If you don't have enough wages in that period, they might use an alternate base period which goes back further. You can request to use the alternate base period if it would give you higher benefits.
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NeonNebula
•Wait, so they should be using 2024 wages? That's exactly what I thought! My account is definitely showing the wrong period then. How do I get this fixed?
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Ravi Malhotra
Yeah the base period thing confused me too when I first filed. NYS Department of Labor uses completed quarters only, so they can't use wages from the quarter you're currently in. If you worked a lot in late 2024, those wages should definitely count towards your benefit calculation. You might need to call and have them review your wage history.
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Freya Christensen
•Good luck getting through to them on the phone though. I've been trying for weeks to get someone to explain my base period calculation.
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Omar Farouk
•I had luck with Claimyr when I couldn't reach NYS Department of Labor directly. They helped me get through to an agent who could review my wage records. Check out claimyr.com - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Saved me hours of calling and getting hung up on.
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Chloe Davis
THE BASE PERIOD SYSTEM IS SO STUPID! Why can't they just use your most recent wages like any normal person would expect??? I lost out on hundreds of dollars because I started a better job right before filing and those wages didn't count. The whole system is designed to screw people over.
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AstroAlpha
•I feel you on this. It's frustrating but there is logic to it - they need completed wage records that employers have already reported to calculate accurately.
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Diego Chavez
Just went through this same thing last month. You can also request a monetary redetermination if you think they calculated your base period wrong. I had to submit pay stubs to prove my wages were higher than what showed up in their system.
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Harper Collins
•@Diego Chavez How long did the monetary redetermination process take? I m'dealing with a similar situation where my employer didn t'report all my wages correctly and I want to know what kind of timeline I m'looking at.
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