I feel your pain! I went through almost the exact same thing last year - 10 weeks of pending status with zero communication. What finally worked for me was a combination approach: I contacted my state assemblyperson's office (they have direct lines to unemployment) AND used one of those callback services to get through the phone system. The assemblyperson's office was actually really helpful - they submitted an inquiry on my behalf and I heard back within a week. Also make sure you're checking for any employer contests on your claim, that's what was holding mine up and nobody bothered to tell me. Don't give up, the system is designed to frustrate you into quitting but you deserve those benefits!

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this - the NY unemployment system is absolutely brutal. I just went through something similar a few months ago and it's incredibly frustrating. Unfortunately there's no email address that actually gets monitored or responded to. The only way to get anywhere is by talking to a human agent, which I know sounds impossible right now. A few things that helped me: 1) Try calling the fraud hotline instead of the regular number - they can sometimes transfer you and the wait times are shorter 2) Call RIGHT at 8am when they open, have multiple phones dialing if possible 3) Consider using Claimyr or a similar callback service - I was skeptical but it actually worked for me after weeks of failed attempts 4) Contact your state assemblyperson's office immediately - they have direct contacts at unemployment and can submit inquiries on your behalf. Also double check if your employer contested your claim, that's a common cause of these endless pending statuses and they never tell you about it. Don't give up! The system wants you to quit but you've earned those benefits. Keep certifying every week no matter what while you fight this.

Check your payment history section - sometimes payments show as issued but there's a bank issue or something. Also make sure you didn't accidentally miss answering one of the weekly questions correctly.

I had a similar issue last year where my payments were delayed for over a month even though everything looked fine on my account. It turned out my former employer hadn't responded to NYS Department of Labor's request for wage verification within their deadline. The frustrating part is that this kind of hold doesn't always show up clearly in your online account. I'd recommend checking your correspondence inbox on the NYS Department of Labor website - sometimes there are notices buried in there that don't trigger alerts. If you can't find anything, definitely try calling or using one of those callback services people mentioned. The sooner you get to the bottom of it, the better, because they should backdate your payments once the issue is resolved.

One more thing to try - check if your banking information was entered correctly in the system. I've seen cases where people had their direct deposit info entered wrong or the account number had a typo, and the payments were being rejected by the bank but the system wasn't notifying them. You can verify this when you speak with an agent.

I'm going through something similar right now - filed in June, approved, but only got 3 payments before everything just stopped. It's incredibly frustrating because like you, I keep certifying every week but my account just shows "pending" with zero explanation. One thing I discovered is that you can also try reaching out through their Twitter account @nylabor - they sometimes respond faster there than through phone calls. I sent them a DM with my claim details and got a response within 48 hours (though they just told me to keep waiting, at least it was acknowledgment). Also, if you have any documentation from your previous employer about your termination/layoff, make sure you have copies ready. Sometimes they request this stuff randomly during reviews and having it ready can speed things up. Hang in there - from what I'm reading here it seems like most people eventually get their payments, it's just a matter of persistence. The system is clearly broken but we have to work within it unfortunately.

yeah the system is always up but it crashes sometimes on mondays when everyone files their weekly claims at the same time lol

I work in HR and deal with unemployment claims regularly - definitely file your initial claim today! The NYS DOL system is available 24/7 at my.ny.gov, and like others mentioned, your benefit year starts from when you file, not when you were laid off. Pro tip: if you're filing late at night or early morning, the system tends to be faster since there's less traffic. Also, have your last employer's full legal name and address handy, plus your recent pay stubs if possible. The system will ask for your gross wages from the last 18 months, so having that info ready will make the process smoother.

Just because an employer is exempt from FUTA doesn't mean you can't collect unemployment. The key things that matter for NYS Department of Labor eligibility are whether you earned enough wages in covered employment and whether you lost your job through no fault of your own. Check your earnings statement on the my.ny.gov portal to see if your wages were reported.

I think people get confused because there are different types of exemptions. Some employers are exempt from paying federal unemployment tax but still have to pay state unemployment insurance. Others might be exempt from both. The NYS Department of Labor website has a whole section explaining covered vs non-covered employment if you want to dig deeper into it.