Who is affected by unemployment benefits in NY - confused about eligibility rules
I'm trying to understand who actually qualifies for NYS Department of Labor unemployment benefits. My sister lost her job last month but she's not sure if she's eligible because she was only working part-time for 8 months. I've been working full-time for 2 years but I'm worried about a possible layoff next month. Are there specific requirements about how long you have to work or how many hours? Also does it matter what industry you're in? I work in retail and she works as a freelance graphic designer. We're both confused about who is affected by unemployment and what the actual eligibility rules are.
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Adrian Hughes
The basic eligibility for NYS Department of Labor unemployment benefits requires you to have worked and earned wages in at least two calendar quarters during your base period. Your sister's part-time work for 8 months should qualify her if she met the minimum earnings threshold. The industry doesn't matter - retail, graphic design, whatever - as long as you were an employee paying into the system. Freelancers can be tricky though since they're often classified as independent contractors.
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Lara Woods
•Wait, so if she was freelancing she might not be eligible at all? How do we figure out if she was paying into unemployment insurance?
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Molly Chambers
Your sister needs to check if her clients were treating her as a W-2 employee or 1099 contractor. If she got 1099s, she wasn't paying into UI and won't qualify. If she got W-2s even for part-time work, she should be fine. You can check your wage history on the NYS Department of Labor website to see what employers reported. The base period is usually the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file.
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Ian Armstrong
•This is so confusing! I thought anyone who loses their job could get unemployment. Why is it so complicated?
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Molly Chambers
•Because unemployment insurance is funded by employer contributions based on payroll. If you weren't on payroll as an employee, you weren't covered. It's an insurance system, not welfare.
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Eli Butler
I had to deal with this exact situation last year when I was laid off. The hardest part was actually getting through to someone at NYS Department of Labor to verify my eligibility. I spent weeks calling and getting busy signals or being hung up on after waiting on hold forever. Finally found out about claimyr.com which actually got me connected to an agent in like 20 minutes. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Saved me so much frustration trying to reach someone.
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Lara Woods
•That sounds too good to be true. How much does something like that cost?
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Eli Butler
•It's way cheaper than losing benefits because you can't get answers. The video explains everything better than I can.
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Marcus Patterson
The whole system is designed to keep people out!! They make the rules so confusing on purpose. I've been fighting with NYS Department of Labor for months over my claim and nobody can give me straight answers about why I was disqualified.
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Lydia Bailey
•Same here, it's like they don't want us to get benefits we paid for
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Mateo Warren
Just to add - even if you qualify initially, you still have to meet ongoing requirements like doing job searches and being available for work. The NYS Department of Labor tracks this stuff and can disqualify you if you don't follow the rules.
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Lara Woods
•Good point. I should probably read up on all the requirements before I potentially need to file. Thanks everyone for the help!
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