When can you not claim unemployment in NY - confused about eligibility rules
I'm trying to figure out all the situations where you can't claim unemployment benefits in New York. I know there are some obvious ones like quitting without good cause, but what are all the other disqualifying factors? I'm asking because my brother just got fired from his job at a restaurant for being late too many times and he's wondering if he can even apply. Also heard something about not being able to claim if you're a student? Really need to understand the full list of when NYS Department of Labor won't approve your claim.
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Omar Fawaz
There are several situations where you can't claim unemployment benefits in NY. Major disqualifiers include: being fired for misconduct (which repeated tardiness could fall under), quitting without good cause, refusing suitable work offers, not actively searching for work, being unavailable for work, earning too much from part-time work, and not meeting the wage/work requirements. Students can claim if they're available for work outside school hours. Your brother should still apply - let NYS Department of Labor make the determination rather than assuming he's disqualified.
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Freya Thomsen
•Thanks for the detailed answer! So even if he was fired for tardiness, he should still try applying? I thought misconduct was an automatic no.
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Chloe Martin
yeah i got denied once for not doing my job search requirements properly, they're really strict about that stuff
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Diego Rojas
The misconduct thing isn't always black and white. NYS Department of Labor looks at whether it was willful misconduct connected to work. Being late a few times might not rise to that level, but if it was excessive and he was warned multiple times, it could be considered misconduct. He should definitely apply and if denied, he can appeal the decision. The worst they can do is say no, but he might be surprised and get approved.
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Anastasia Sokolov
•This is so confusing! How do you even know what counts as misconduct vs just being a bad employee? The lines seem really blurry.
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StarSeeker
I had trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor when I needed to check on my eligibility status after a similar situation. Kept getting busy signals and the online chat was always full. Finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual agent. They have a video demo showing how it works: https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI. Made the whole process much easier than trying to call repeatedly.
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Sean O'Donnell
•Never heard of that service before but might be worth checking out. The phone lines are definitely impossible to get through to sometimes.
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Zara Ahmed
Don't forget about the other disqualifiers too - if you're self-employed, working full-time, incarcerated, or receiving certain other benefits you can't claim UI. Also if you don't have valid work authorization or haven't earned enough wages in your base period. The system is designed to exclude a lot of people unfortunately.
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Sean O'Donnell
Wait, what about if you're collecting disability? I thought you could get both but maybe I'm wrong about that?
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Omar Fawaz
•No, you generally can't collect unemployment and disability at the same time since disability means you're unable to work, while unemployment requires you to be able and available for work. They're contradictory conditions.
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Jamal Brown
Another important disqualifier that hasn't been mentioned is if you're receiving severance pay - depending on how it's structured, it might delay or reduce your benefits. Also, if you were working under the table or getting paid in cash without proper tax reporting, you might not have enough documented earnings to qualify. And just to add to what others said about students - you can claim benefits if you're willing to drop out or reduce your course load to accept suitable work, but if you're not available because of class schedules, that could be a problem. The key thing is always being "able, available, and actively seeking work.
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