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New York State Unemployment Benefits Increase Effective October 1, 2025

September 25, 2025 / By Tracy Rickett, UNY Human Resources Manager / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Effective October 1, 2025, New York State unemployment insurance benefits will increase from $504 per week to $869 per week. More information regarding this change is available here.

As a reminder, in general, virtually all employed people in New York are covered by unemployment insurance. However, New York State’s Unemployment Insurance law provides exclusions from coverage for certain people rendering services to not-for-profit corporations.

Exclusions applicable only to nonprofit religious organizations:

• Duly ordained ministers in the exercise of their ministry. 
• Members of religious orders in the performance of their duties. 
• Lay members elected or appointed to an office within the discipline of a bona fide church and engaged in religious functions. 
• People employed at a place of religious worship as a caretaker or for the performance of duties of a religious nature.

The church must cover employees that perform non-religious services for unemployment insurance. Such staff would include, among others, administrative secretaries, local church treasurers, and financial secretaries that are paid by the local churches for their services (“covered wages”).

Many churches will have only excluded people in their employment and do not have to register with the New York State Department of Labor. These churches will become liable for unemployment insurance as of the first day of any quarter in which they pay $1,000 or more in covered wages. The church must then register with the Department of Labor and begin unemployment insurance coverage for any non-excluded staff.

Contribution option

Generally, unemployment insurance is paid into an account held by the New York State Department of Labor at a specified percentage of each covered employee’s wages up to a cap. The percentage rate is based on unemployment claim experience of the individual employer and the losses of the entire state fund. (The account is only a bookkeeping function for the Department of Labor. If you pay into the account and have no claims, your percentage rate will go down. However, you are not entitled to any refunds of amounts in the account.)

Benefit reimbursement option

New York State provides a benefit reimbursement option for non-profit organizations, including churches, where they may elect to provide direct reimbursement of unemployment claims instead of paying into an account each quarter. Since most churches are unlikely to ever have an unemployment claim filed against them, this method is generally the least costly option.    

However, the decision to choose this option must be carefully considered because the entire cost of every valid claim for unemployment insurance benefits will be directly billed to the church at the time the claim is paid. If a church experiences a series of valid claims in a short period of time, it can create an unexpected financial burden.  

Electing the benefit reimbursement option can only be done at certain times. A church already registered with the Department of Labor, and paying unemployment insurance may elect this option by submitting a written request before the calendar year in which it is to be effective. If a church has just become liable for unemployment insurance for the first time, it may elect this method by submitting a written request within 30 days after the calendar quarter in which the church becomes liable.  

Assistance  

New York State has created a helpful unemployment insurance handbook for employers.  

If you have any questions on this topic, please contact Tracy Rickett, Human Resources Manager, at 315-898-2017 or TracyRickett@unyumc.org.