How to Best Support Employees Reduced to Part-Time Hours and Collecting NYS Unemployment Benefits

As I mentioned in last week’s post, with the enhanced Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits (in New York, the maximum weekly benefit is $504), the extra $600 a week in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) until July 31st is the most generous financial UI benefit – $1,104 weekly – that I’ve seen in my HR career. It’s a real bridge to helping all of us gain our business and workplace bearings once we’ve all worked together to ensure public safety.

As I continue to speak to employer clients about available CARES benefits, many of them are moving their employees to part-time schedules with the goal of balancing the needs of their employees with the needs of the business.

In order to best support your employees whose hours have been reduced from full-time to part-time, it’s important to understand how the NYS Department of Labor treats UI recipients who work part-time or on an occasional per-diem basis, as illustrated by the FAQ below from the NYS DOL UI website:

Q: What if I work part-time?

A: If you work less than four days in a week and earn $504 (gross wages) or less, you may receive partial benefits.

You are considered employed on any day when you perform any services – even an hour or less – whether or not you are paid for that day. Each day or part of a day of work causes your benefit rate to drop by one-quarter. If you cannot work, we determine your benefits on the same basis.

When you receive partial benefits, it extends the length of time you may collect benefits.

If you earn over $504 (gross wages) in any week, no matter how many days you worked, you cannot receive benefits for that week.

Each day or part of a day of work causes your weekly benefit rate to drop by one-quarter:  

• 1 day of work = 3/4 of your full rate  
• 2 days of work = 1/2 of your full rate  
• 3 days of work = 1/4 of your full rate  
• 4 days of work = No benefits due.

If you work while receiving benefits and do not report it (even if it is part-time work) you may be committing fraud. You must report all full-time and part-time work to the Labor Department. If you do not report the work, you risk criminal penalties.

As you plan the weekly schedules of employees working on a part-time basis who are also receiving UI and PUA, be mindful that the more days they work a week (as illustrated above), the less of a UI benefit they will receive. And if they earn $504 or more in that part-time week, they won’t receive any UI benefits – or the $600 extra weekly PUA benefit – at all that week.

Take care, and be well.