Employment and earnings requirement
To qualify for benefits, the law requires that a person:
Work in covered employment in at least two quarters out of the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters prior to the filing of the claim for benefits, with wages of at least 221 times the minimum wage (rounded down to the nearest $100) paid in the quarter with the highest wages, and total wages paid equal to at least one and one‑half times the wages in the quarter with the highest wages*† or
Work in covered employment in at least two quarters out of the last four completed calendar quarters prior to the filing of the claim for benefits, with wages of at least 221 times the minimum wage (rounded down to the nearest $100) paid in the quarter with the highest wages, and total wages paid equal to at least one and one‑half times the wages in the quarter with the highest wages*†
*For this purpose, the higher‑quarter earnings are capped at 22 times the current maximum benefit rate.
†For this purpose, although there will be four minimum wage rates in New York State effective December 31, 2016, the rate that will be used to calculate entitlement to UI benefits will be the one for the remainder of the state (outside of New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties). For more information, visit: dol.ny.gov/workforce-protections .
Those claimants who have some covered employment and earnings in the last five completed calendar quarters prior to filing the claim but do not qualify for benefits under either of the above conditions due to insufficient earnings, may have their base period of the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters extended by the equivalent number of quarters they received Workers’ Compensation or Volunteer Firefighters’ Benefit Law payments up to a maximum of two quarters.
Wages earned in employment that was lost due to misconduct or the commission of a felony in connection with that employment cannot be used to establish a valid claim under either of the above conditions. Those wages will not be used in the computation of the claimant’s benefit rate.
Employees disqualified for benefits for voluntarily quitting a job, misconduct, or refusing to accept suitable employment must earn 10 times the previous weekly benefit rate with a new employer, to re-qualify for benefits.