Who does not qualify for unemployment benefits through NYS Department of Labor?

There are several categories of workers who don't qualify for unemployment benefits in New York. The main ones are: independent contractors and gig workers (unless they meet very specific criteria), people who haven't earned enough wages or worked enough quarters, those who quit without good cause, people fired for misconduct, and certain types of workers like some seasonal employees or students working for their school. Your cousin needs to have earned at least $2,600 in wages during her base period and worked in at least two calendar quarters. The NYS Department of Labor also looks at why employment ended - if she was laid off due to lack of work, that's usually okay, but if she was fired for attendance issues or policy violations, she might be disqualified.

yeah my brother got denied because he was working under the table for most of his jobs. you have to have legitimate W-2 employment where taxes were taken out. also if you're not a citizen or don't have work authorization that's another automatic no

I had issues reaching NYS Department of Labor to get clarification on my eligibility when I first applied. The phone lines are always busy and their online chat rarely works. I ended up using a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual agent. They have this video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Basically they call for you and connect you when an agent picks up. Made it so much easier to get my questions answered about whether my specific work situation qualified.

Don't forget about students! If you're enrolled at least half-time in school and working for that same school, you typically can't collect unemployment during the school year. Also, people who are self-employed or running their own business usually don't qualify unless they've been paying into the system as both employer and employee, which most don't do.

ugh the whole system is so confusing and they make it impossible to get straight answers. I got disqualified initially because they said I didn't work enough quarters but then when I appealed with better documentation they approved me. sometimes it feels like they just deny everyone first to see who fights back

To answer your earlier question about base periods - NYS Department of Labor looks at the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file your claim. So if your cousin files now in 2025, they'd look at her wages from Q1 2024 through Q4 2024. She needs at least $2,600 total in that period AND wages in at least two different quarters. The seasonal retail work might actually help if it was during Q4 2024 and the restaurant work was in a different quarter.