Originally published 1/19/2021
Last updated 8/23/2021

New York changed the rules again for claiming Unemployment while working, effective week ending Sunday 8/22/2021 (week beginning 8/16/2021). Reminder: PUA (Special Covid Unemployment for those who are not eligible for standard Unemployment), PEUC (Additional weeks of Unemployment that was added on to the standard 26 weeks) and FPUC ($300 Federal bonus) all expire on 09/05/2021.

When working while on Unemployment, you lose a percentage of your Unemployment payment based on how much you worked during the week. Each week is certified separately, so you could be eligible for one week and not another.

The method of calculating how much you worked in a given week – and therefore how much Unemployment payment you get, was changed twice by the NY DOL. Going forward, you only need the most recent guidance. However, when certifying back-weeks, you must refer to the rules for those specific weeks.

Only Less Than $504 a week

All of the calculations below only apply if you earned less than $504 that week. Any week that you earn over $504, you still lose that week’s benefits, even if you worked 10 hours or less. If, however, you are on regular UI and are self-employed, the $504 limit does not apply to self-employed earnings. If you are on PUA, then the $504 limit applies to self-employed earnings as well.

FPUC $600/$300 “Bonus” – All Or Nothing

If you get any unemployment payment at all for a given week, you still get the full bonus (e.g. FPUC $300) for that week. In other words, even if your Unemployment got reduced by 75% (22-30 hours) you would still get the full bonus. If, however, you worked 31+ hours or earned $504, then you would not get the bonus, being that you are would receive $0 in standard Unemployment payments for that week.

From week ending 08/22/2021

The amount of “days” you need to report are based on how many hours you worked, based on the following chart:

So, if you worked up to 10 hours, you report 0 days worked, and get full unemployment payment.

The maximum number of hours that you count per day is ten hours. If you worked 12 hours one day, you count ten hours (0% reduction). If you worked 25 hours across two days (e.g. 12 & 13), you count 20 hours (50% reduction).

Helpful Calculator – Enter the amount of time you worked each day of the week (remember that NY Unemployment weeks are Monday-Sunday) and it will tell you how many days of work you need to report for that week.

From week ending 01/24/2021 until week ending 08/15/2021

The DOL looked at “hours worked”, instead of “days worked”, using the following chart:

Until week ending 01/17/2021 (2020, 2019 and earlier)

The DOL counted each day that you worked as a full day. Even if you only worked one hour a day, it counted as working that day.

Working one day lost 25% of your weekly benefit, working 2 days lost 50%, working 3 days lost 75%, and working 4 days lost 100%.

The issue with this method is that someone who worked 30 minutes a day across 4 days, could not get any Unemployment for that week even if they only earned $100 that week! You lost 25% per day’s work, no matter how much you worked that day. The new rules from 01/18/2021 changed that for the better.

Helpful Links

• DOL Guidance re Partial Unemployment
• Unemployment Changes in The New Covid-Relief Bill (Dec 27)
• Troubleshooting Your Unemployment Application
• Becoming Eligible vs Staying Eligible – NY Unemployment
• Effective Days Down to Zero? Don’t Worry.
• “Dependent”, Taxes and Unemployment
• Guide How to Get Missing Unemployment Payments – NY