ugh this brings back memories of my own unemployment nightmare last year. took forever to get approved and then they said I was overpaid and wanted money back! the whole system is just broken. hang in there OP

I'm dealing with a similar situation - been waiting 8 weeks for adjudication after being laid off from my job of 5 years. What's frustrating is the lack of transparency about what's actually happening with your claim. They just say "pending" with no timeline or explanation. I've tried calling dozens of times but can never get through. Has anyone had success with contacting their local assembly member or senator's office? I heard they sometimes have staff who can help navigate NYS Department of Labor issues.

I had the exact same issue with the identity verification! What finally worked for me was using a different device entirely - I was trying on my phone and kept getting errors, but when I switched to my laptop it went through immediately. Also make sure you're using the most recent version of your browser. The NYS DOL system seems really finicky about browser compatibility for identity verification uploads.

I've been dealing with identity verification issues too and found a few things that helped. First, make sure your documents are saved at high resolution - the system sometimes rejects blurry or low-quality images even if they look fine to you. Second, try uploading one document at a time rather than all at once. I kept getting timeouts when trying to upload multiple files together. Also, if you're still getting the "error processing request" message, try logging out completely, clearing your cookies, and logging back in. Sometimes the session gets corrupted and a fresh login fixes the upload issues. Hope this helps!

also make sure you understand the difference between your weekly benefit amount and your maximum benefit amount, those are two totally different things that confuse everyone

Just to add to what others have said - your $320 weekly benefit amount is indeed the gross amount before taxes. If you opted for federal tax withholding (which is 10%), you'd receive $288 per week. New York state doesn't have income tax on unemployment benefits, so you only need to worry about federal taxes. Also keep in mind that this $320 is what you get for a full week of unemployment - if you work any hours during a week, NYS Department of Labor has a partial benefit formula that will reduce your payment based on your earnings that week.

does anyone know if holidays affect the payment schedule??

Been through this exact same situation last year! Since your effective days are decreasing, that's actually a good sign - it means NYS has processed your certification and released the payment. With direct deposit, you should see it hit your account within 1-2 business days from when those days started going down. The $421 weekly benefit is pretty solid btw. Just keep an eye on your payment history section in the portal - once it shows "paid" status you know it's on the way to your bank. If nothing shows up by Wednesday I'd definitely call or try that claimyr service people mentioned.

Just report everything honestly on your weekly claim and you'll be fine. The system is designed to handle partial unemployment situations. Better to over-report than under-report!

I went through this exact situation a few months ago! The key thing is to report your part-time work on your weekly certification - you'll enter your gross wages and hours worked. The system will automatically calculate your partial benefit amount. Don't worry about calling them unless you have specific questions - the online form handles partial unemployment calculations pretty well. Just make sure you report the work for the week you actually performed it, not when you got paid. You're doing the right thing by being proactive about this!