Who actually pays when you collect unemployment benefits in NY?
I just started collecting unemployment and I'm curious about something - who actually pays for these benefits? Is it coming from taxes I paid before, or is my former employer paying it directly? My cousin said employers pay into some kind of fund but I'm not sure how it all works. Does anyone know the breakdown of where NYS Department of Labor gets the money to pay us?
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Oliver Becker
Your unemployment benefits are funded through employer payroll taxes, not from taxes taken out of your paycheck. Employers in New York pay into the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund based on their payroll and claims history. The NYS Department of Labor administers this fund and pays benefits from it. So technically your former employer contributed to the fund, but they're not writing you a check directly.
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Amina Bah
•That makes sense! So it's like insurance that employers have to pay for their workers. Thanks for explaining it clearly.
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Natasha Petrova
wait i thought it came from our paychecks?? i swear i see unemployment deductions...
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Oliver Becker
•You might be thinking of disability insurance or other deductions. In NY, employees don't pay into unemployment insurance - it's 100% employer-funded through state unemployment taxes.
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Javier Hernandez
The system is set up so employers with higher turnover and more claims against them pay higher rates into the fund. It's called experience rating. Companies that rarely have layoffs or fired employees pay lower unemployment tax rates than businesses that constantly cycle through workers. This creates an incentive for employers to maintain stable workforces.
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Emma Davis
•Interesting! So if a company fires a lot of people their unemployment taxes go up? That seems fair actually.
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LunarLegend
If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to ask questions about your benefits, I used claimyr.com last month and it actually worked. They have this system that calls the unemployment office for you and gets you connected to a real person. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Way better than sitting on hold for hours.
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Malik Jackson
•How much does something like that cost though? Seems like we shouldn't have to pay extra just to talk to someone at the unemployment office.
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LunarLegend
•I hear you on that frustration. The service exists because the phone system is so overwhelmed. For me it was worth it to actually get my questions answered instead of calling 50 times and getting hung up on.
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Isabella Oliveira
The whole system is funded by employers but honestly it feels like they make it as hard as possible for us to actually collect what we're entitled to. All these adjudication delays and job search requirements - it's like they want people to give up and stop filing claims.
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Natasha Petrova
•SO TRUE!! the job search thing is ridiculous when you're already looking for work obviously
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Kirsuktow DarkBlade
Thanks everyone for the detailed explanations! I had no idea it was completely employer-funded. It's actually pretty smart that companies with higher turnover pay more - gives them a real financial incentive to treat workers better and avoid unnecessary layoffs. Makes me feel less guilty about collecting benefits knowing my former employer was required to pay into this system all along.
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