What qualifies you for unemployment benefits through NYS Department of Labor?

The basic requirements for NYS unemployment are: you need to have worked and earned enough wages during your base period (usually the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters), you must be unemployed through no fault of your own, you have to be able and available for work, and actively seeking employment. Since you were laid off from your retail job due to lack of work, that should qualify as 'no fault of your own.' The tricky part might be your wage history since you had a gap when you quit to care for your mom.

You should be fine to qualify! The main requirements are: you need to have worked and earned wages in at least 2 quarters during your base period (usually the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters), you must be unemployed through no fault of your own, and you have to be able and available for work. Since you were laid off from your restaurant job, that counts as unemployed through no fault of your own. The fact that you quit your retail job shouldn't disqualify you as long as your restaurant job provided enough wages in your base period.

NYS Department of Labor looks at your highest quarter earnings to determine your weekly benefit amount, and you need to have earned at least $2,700 in your highest quarter. With $28k over 8 months you should easily meet that. The quit from your retail job won't matter since you had subsequent employment that ended involuntarily. Just make sure when you file that you list the layoff as your reason for unemployment, not the previous quit.

You need to look at your total wages during the base period, not just from one job. NYS Department of Labor will count wages from all employers during that time. For 2025, you generally need at least $3,300 in one quarter and total wages of at least 1.5 times your highest quarter. So if you made $15k from retail plus whatever you earned at your previous full-time job that falls in the base period, you might be okay. You can check your wage history by creating an account on my.ny.gov.

I've been trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor for weeks to ask similar questions about my eligibility and it's impossible! Their phone lines are always busy and the callback system never works. Has anyone found a way to actually talk to someone there? I need to know about my specific situation but the website doesn't cover all the edge cases.

Wait I'm confused about something - if you quit your full-time job to take care of your mom, wouldn't that disqualify you? I thought you couldn't get unemployment if you voluntarily quit...

just file and see what happens, thats what i did and got approved even though i wasnt sure about my work history either

I had a similar situation last year and kept getting conflicting info from different sources. I was so frustrated trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor on the phone to ask questions - the wait times are insane and half the time I'd get disconnected. Finally someone told me about this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helps you actually get through to speak with an agent. I watched their demo video (https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI) and decided to try it. It was honestly worth it just to get my questions answered directly by someone at NYS Department of Labor instead of guessing.

You won't have to pay anything back if you file in good faith and answer all questions honestly. NYS Department of Labor will review your work history and wage records to determine eligibility. If you don't qualify, they'll just deny the claim - no penalties for trying. Given your situation with the layoff and your earnings, you should definitely qualify. The online application walks you through everything step by step.

Just file the claim and let them figure it out!! The worst they can say is no and then you'll know for sure. I spent weeks trying to figure out if I qualified and should have just applied right away. The system will calculate your benefits automatically based on your wage history.