After waiting almost 8 weeks with no payment and countless unanswered calls, a DOL agent finally called me yesterday! They went through my claim and found out there was some random flag on my account that was holding up everything. The agent was actually super nice and fixed it all while we were on the phone. Got all of my backpay for the past 7 weeks released at once. So apparently they ARE actually working on cases, just really slowly. Hang in there if your still waiting - there is hope! Don't give up trying to get through.

So I found out that someone has been claiming ny unemployment benefits using my identity for the past 4 months. I never even applied! My employer reached out to me last week asking why I filed for unemployment when I'm still working full-time. I was shocked and told them I definitely didn't file anything. I immediately checked my email and found notifications from NYSDOL about benefits being deposited that I never received. Looks like they've been paying around $580 weekly to some random bank account since August. I called the fraud department yesterday and waited over 2 hours before someone finally picked up. They told me they'd put a hold on the claim and flag it for investigation, but couldn't tell me how long it would take or what I need to do next. They also said I should contact the police and file a report, check my credit report, and freeze my credit. I'm freaking out because that's nearly $9300 stolen using my information! Has anyone dealt with this before? How long did it take to resolve? Will I need to pay this back somehow even though I never received the money?

My regular unemployment benefits expired about two weeks ago. Last week, I decided to apply for the Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC) program since I had some self-employment income alongside my regular job. I didn't reapply for standard unemployment at all - just submitted the MEUC application through the portal. Yesterday, I was surprised to receive a letter in the mail showing a new weekly benefit amount that's different from what I was getting before. The letter has a calculation based on my previous quarters and shows a new rate of $384 per week, which is about $45 more than I was getting previously. I'm really confused because I never submitted a new UI application - just the MEUC form. Has anyone experienced this? Does this mean my benefits are somehow continuing? The letter doesn't specifically mention MEUC anywhere, it just looks like a standard UI monetary determination letter. I'm not sure if I should start certifying again or what this actually means.

Filed a new unemployment claim last Thursday after my seasonal job ended. When I tried to certify for benefits yesterday, I got this strange message saying there was "potential identity theft" on my account and I needed to call the fraud department. I've never had any issues before - been at the same seasonal job for 3 years and file every winter. Called the fraud department number but after 2 hours on hold, the call just disconnected. Tried again today and couldn't even get through. Checked my account and now it shows my claim is pending review, but there's also a message saying I need to verify my identity by uploading documents. Has anyone dealt with this? I'm worried because I have bills due next week and was counting on this first payment. The website doesn't say why they suspect fraud - my information hasn't changed since last year!

I got laid off back in August 2022 and filed for unemployment right away. I received benefits from mid-September to February 2023 with no issues. Recently, I was going through my paperwork and realized I never received any payments for the 4-week period between my initial filing and when payments actually started. At the time I was so stressed about getting any money that I didn't notice this gap. Has anyone successfully claimed backpay after their regular unemployment ended? It's about $1700 that I'm missing and could really use right now. I've tried calling the regular unemployment number like 25 times but can't get through to anyone. The website is useless for this situation since my claim is technically closed. Starting to think I should just give up but wanted to check if anyone has actually managed to get backpay for a closed claim?