NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6168A
SPONSOR: Lunsford TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to increasing the unemploy-
ment insurance minimum weekly benefit amount
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill increases the unemployment insurance minimum benefit amount to
$860.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 590 of the labor law to increase the unemploy-
ment insurance ("UI") minimum weekly benefit amount to $860.
Section 2 sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
New York's current UI benefit levels lag behind our higher cost of
living, inflation rates, and the unemployment benefits of surrounding
states. As unemployment is at the lowest point in decades, now is the
time to create a new minimum UI benefit.
Currently, inflation and cost of living make the current UI benefit
grossly inadequate. Establishing a minimum UI benefit of $860 will
ensure all New Yorkers can make ends meet while seeking other employ-
ment. According to the Economic Policy Institute, women and workers of
color are disproportionately disadvantaged by the current UI system
because they are more likely to work in low-paying jobs, and thus
receive lower UI benefits.i This bill would address that inequality as
well as better compensate those seeking employment and avoid placing
more families on other forms of public assistance.
PRIOR HISTORY:
2024: Similar Bill (A.6752/Lunsford) Died in Labor
2023: Similar Bill (A.6752/Lunsford) Died in Labor
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6168--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 26, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LUNSFORD -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Labor -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to increasing the unemploy-
ment insurance minimum weekly benefit amount
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 590 of the labor
2 law, as amended by section 8 of part O of chapter 57 of the laws of
3 2013, is amended to read as follows:
4 (a) A claimant's weekly benefit amount shall be one twenty-sixth of
5 the remuneration paid during the highest calendar quarter of the base
6 period by employers, liable for contributions or payments in lieu of
7 contributions under this article, provided the claimant has remuneration
8 paid in all four calendar quarters during [his or her] such claimant's
9 base period or alternate base period, but shall not be less than eight
10 hundred sixty dollars. However, for any claimant who has remuneration
11 paid in all four calendar quarters during [his or her] such claimant's
12 base period or alternate base period and whose high calendar quarter
13 remuneration during the base period is three thousand five hundred
14 seventy-five dollars or less, the benefit amount shall be one twenty-
15 fifth of the remuneration paid during the highest calendar quarter of
16 the base period by employers liable for contributions or payments in
17 lieu of contributions under this article, but shall not be less than
18 eight hundred sixty dollars. A claimant's weekly benefit shall be one
19 twenty-sixth of the average remuneration paid in the two highest quar-
20 ters paid during the base period or alternate base period by employers
21 liable for contributions or payments in lieu of contributions under this
22 article when the claimant has remuneration paid in two or three calendar
23 quarters provided however, that a claimant whose high calendar quarter
24 is four thousand dollars or less but greater than three thousand five
25 hundred seventy-five dollars shall have a weekly benefit amount of one
26 twenty-sixth of such high calendar quarter, but shall not be less than
27 eight hundred sixty dollars. However, for any claimant who has remunera-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09341-02-5
A. 6168--A 2
1 tion paid in two or three calendar quarters during [his or her] such
2 claimant's base period or alternate base period and whose high calendar
3 quarter remuneration during the base period is three thousand five
4 hundred seventy-five dollars or less, the benefit amount shall be one
5 twenty-fifth of the remuneration paid during the highest calendar quar-
6 ter of the base period by employers liable for contributions or payments
7 in lieu of contributions under this article, but shall not be less than
8 eight hundred sixty dollars. Any claimant whose high calendar quarter
9 remuneration during the base period is more than three thousand five
10 hundred seventy-five dollars shall not have a weekly benefit amount less
11 than [one] eight hundred [forty-three] sixty dollars. The weekly benefit
12 amount, so computed, that is not a multiple of one dollar shall be
13 lowered to the next multiple of one dollar. On the first Monday of
14 September, nineteen hundred ninety-eight the weekly benefit amount shall
15 not exceed three hundred sixty-five dollars nor be less than forty
16 dollars, until the first Monday of September, two thousand, at which
17 time the maximum benefit payable pursuant to this subdivision shall
18 equal one-half of the state average weekly wage for covered employment
19 as calculated by the department no sooner than July first, two thousand
20 and no later than August first, two thousand, rounded down to the lowest
21 dollar. On and after the first Monday of October, two thousand fourteen,
22 the weekly benefit shall not be less than one hundred dollars, nor shall
23 it exceed four hundred twenty dollars until the first Monday of October,
24 two thousand fifteen when the maximum benefit amount shall be four
25 hundred twenty-five dollars, until the first Monday of October, two
26 thousand sixteen when the maximum benefit amount shall be four hundred
27 thirty dollars, until the first Monday of October, two thousand seven-
28 teen when the maximum benefit amount shall be four hundred thirty-five
29 dollars, until the first Monday of October, two thousand eighteen when
30 the maximum benefit amount shall be four hundred fifty dollars, until
31 the first Monday of October, two thousand nineteen when the maximum
32 benefit amount shall be thirty-six percent of the average weekly wage
33 until the first Monday of October, two thousand twenty when the maximum
34 benefit amount shall be thirty-eight percent of the average weekly wage,
35 until the first Monday of October, two thousand twenty-one when the
36 maximum benefit amount shall be forty percent of the average weekly
37 wage, until the first Monday of October, two thousand twenty-two when
38 the maximum benefit amount shall be forty-two percent of the average
39 weekly wage, until the first Monday of October, two thousand twenty-
40 three [when the maximum benefit amount]. On and after the first Monday
41 of October, two thousand twenty-five, the weekly benefit shall not be
42 less than eight hundred sixty dollars, nor shall [be] it exceed forty-
43 four percent of the average weekly wage, until the first Monday of Octo-
44 ber, two thousand twenty-four when the maximum benefit amount shall be
45 forty-six percent of the average weekly wage, until the first Monday of
46 October, two thousand twenty-five when the maximum benefit amount shall
47 be forty-eight percent of the average weekly wage, until the first
48 Monday of October, two thousand twenty-six and each year thereafter on
49 the first Monday of October when the maximum benefit amount shall be
50 fifty percent of the average weekly wage provided, however, that in no
51 event shall the maximum benefit amount be reduced from the previous
52 year.
53 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
54 have become a law.
