The whole system is designed to pay you as little as possible while making you jump through endless hoops. Good luck actually getting your money without fighting for it.

For someone with your salary of $52k, you should qualify for close to the maximum benefit. The calculation is based on your highest earning quarter during the base period, so if your income was consistent, you'll likely get around $480-504 per week. Just make sure you apply as soon as possible since there's a waiting week before benefits start, and gather all your employment documentation beforehand to speed up the process.

honestly the whole system is set up to screw small business owners. they make it super easy for employees to file claims but then you have to jump through hoops to contest bogus ones. and if you make one mistake on the paperwork they just approve everything automatically. been dealing with this BS for 15 years

Thanks everyone for the detailed responses! This is really helpful. As a newcomer to NY business ownership, I'm realizing there's a lot more to track than I initially thought. The experience rating system makes sense - basically I'm incentivized to hire carefully and document everything thoroughly. I'm definitely going to look into that automated service Kayla mentioned since I travel a lot for my consulting work and can see myself missing those 10-day deadlines. Better to invest upfront than pay higher rates later. One follow-up question - when you register with NYS Department of Labor for the first employee, do they provide clear guidance on what records to keep, or is that something you have to figure out on your own?

Just make sure you keep track of your hours and earnings! NYS Department of Labor cross-references with employer wage reports so they WILL find out if you don't report correctly. I've seen people get massive overpayment bills because they thought they could hide small jobs.

You're absolutely doing everything right by reporting your earnings! I've been in a similar situation and the anxiety is totally understandable. Just to add to what others have said - the NYS Department of Labor actually encourages part-time work while on unemployment because it helps people transition back to full employment. The partial benefit system is designed specifically for situations like yours. Keep detailed records of your work hours and pay stubs, and continue reporting honestly each week. You're not going to get in trouble for working part-time and reporting it correctly - that's exactly what you're supposed to do!

UPDATE: You guys are all amazing! We followed the advice about uploading his wage documents with a letter specifically requesting "monetary redetermination" and "claim backdating" (used those exact terms). Called at 8:01am this morning and got through after only 4 attempts! The claims specialist confirmed there was a wage verification flag and that the ID.me completion hadn't fully processed in their system. She was able to fix both issues during the call, and said payments should start processing within 3-5 business days including the back weeks! THANK YOU ALL for your help - this community saved us so much stress and confusion!

This is such great news and a perfect example of why this community is so valuable! Your success story gives hope to everyone dealing with similar NYSDOL nightmares. The fact that you got through in just 4 calls at 8am and found a knowledgeable claims specialist proves that persistence and the right terminology really do make a difference. For anyone else reading this thread dealing with similar issues, this shows the importance of: 1. Using specific terms like "monetary redetermination" and "claim backdating" 2. Uploading wage documents before calling 3. Calling right at 8am when the lines open 4. Asking specifically for a claims specialist Thanks for taking the time to update us with the resolution - it's going to help so many people who find this thread in the future!

I'm dealing with the exact same frustration! Been trying to reach NY unemployment for almost 3 weeks now and it's like they don't want us to get through. My claim has been "pending review" since early February and every time I call, I either get disconnected after waiting for hours or the system just hangs up on me completely. It's ridiculous that we have to jump through so many hoops just to talk to someone about our own benefits. Reading through everyone's experiences here, it sounds like this is a widespread problem and not just bad luck on my part. I'm going to try some of the suggestions mentioned - the early morning calling trick and maybe that Claimyr service if I get desperate enough. Has anyone had any luck with reaching out to local elected officials? I'm wondering if that's worth trying too.

I just went through this exact same nightmare last month! After reading all these comments, I wanted to share what finally worked for me. I tried the early morning calling (7:58am) trick that @Aisha mentioned for about a week straight with no luck. Then I combined it with calling the alternative number @Tyrone suggested (888-209-8124) AND selecting the Spanish option first. Even though I don't speak Spanish, when I got connected I just said "English please" and they transferred me to a bilingual agent. The whole process took about 45 minutes total wait time. The agent explained that my claim was also stuck in that new January verification system - apparently thousands of claims are backed up because of this policy change. She was able to clear it immediately and I got my benefits deposited 2 days later. Don't give up! The system is definitely broken but there are ways around it if you keep trying different approaches.