How long does unemployment last in New York?

Your claim stops paying at whichever comes first: the last of your 26 weeks of payments, or the end of your benefit year. Weeks with a partial payment count for less than full weeks, so they can make a claim last longer.

How NYSDOL counts your 26 weeks

NYSDOL measures a claim in effective days, and each effective day is worth a quarter of your weekly benefit rate. A claim pays at most 104 effective days, which equals 26 full weeks. A week with a reduced payment, for part-time work or a day you could not work, uses only the effective days you were paid for, and the rest stay on your claim until your benefit year ends. How much it pays explains those cuts.

Your Monetary Benefit Determination, mailed after you file, shows the number of weeks you can be paid. To see what you have been paid so far, sign in to your online account, open Unemployment Services, and choose View Payment History. You can also call Tel-Service at (888) 581-5812 and follow the prompts.

When your benefit year ends

Your benefit year is the one-year period that begins the Monday after the week you filed your original claim. Its last day, a Sunday, is your benefit year ending date, and after that date the claim pays nothing more, even if you had weeks left on it. The date is on the letters NYSDOL mails you, and View Payment History in your online account shows it too.

If you are still out of work in the week right after your benefit year ends, you must file a new claim then, online or through the Telephone Claims Center. The new claim is set from the wages in its own base period, and the eligibility guide explains the wage rules. Filing for unemployment walks through the claim itself.

If you lose another job before your benefit year ends

If you go back to work and then lose that job, for any reason, before your benefit year ends, you have the right to reopen your claim. Reopen it by signing in with your NY.GOV ID or by calling Tel-Service at (888) 581-5812. If your benefit year has already ended, file a new claim instead.

Can you extend unemployment benefits in New York?

In dollars, a claim can pay at most 26 times your full weekly benefit rate during the benefit year, and weeks of partial unemployment draw on that same amount. Because each partial week draws less, part-time work lets a claim pay out over more than 26 calendar weeks, up to the end of the benefit year.

Extended Benefits are additional weeks of benefits paid during periods of high unemployment, as provided by the U.S. Congress. To ask whether any additional weeks apply to your claim, call the Telephone Claims Center at (888) 209-8124, or send a secure message from your online account.

When your benefits run out

• Keep looking for work: finding a job covers the NYS Job Bank and Career Centers.
• If your benefit year has ended and you are still out of work, file a new claim, as described above.
• For health coverage, food help, and other support after a job loss, see the FAQ.
• The benefits you were paid count as taxable income, and taxes on unemployment explains the Form 1099-G that NYSDOL sends you.