yeah same thing happened to my cousin, employer said he quit but he was actually fired, took like 2 months to sort out but he eventually got his benefits

I've been through a similar situation and here's what I learned about NYS Department of Labor rules: employers need to prove "willful misconduct" to successfully contest your claim. Being late 3 times in 6 months with advance notice definitely doesn't meet that standard. The fact that they only gave you verbal warnings (no written documentation) actually works in your favor. NYS Department of Labor looks for patterns of deliberate policy violations, not occasional tardiness. Keep all your records showing you called ahead when late - that demonstrates good faith effort. Most contested claims like yours get approved if the employer can't provide solid written evidence of misconduct.

FYI - I got the same thing and it was actually legit. Their system had a major glitch in april that lost a bunch of verification documents. Super annoying but I had to resubmit. Just make sure you do it through the secure portal and not by replying to any email.

I'm dealing with something similar right now! Got laid off from my restaurant job in January, approved in February, been getting payments for about 10 weeks. Then last week I got an email asking me to resend everything to some random gmail address. The email looked pretty official but something felt off - why would they suddenly need verification AGAIN after already paying me for months? Plus like others said, they've never asked for email submissions before, always through the portal. I logged into my actual account and there was no message there asking for documents, which made me even more suspicious. Definitely sounds like the scam everyone's talking about. Thanks for posting this - glad to know I'm not the only one getting these sketchy emails! Going to report it to that fraud email address someone mentioned. This whole situation is so stressful when you're already dealing with being unemployed 😞

I useto work for DOL (not in NY but similar system). The reason they have brackets instead of exact hours is to make it easier to match employer reporting with employee claims. Most employers report in whole hours only. The safest approach is ALWAYS round up. You might get a few dollars less that week but you won't trigger a fraud investigation.

Just went through this same situation last month! You definitely want to round UP to the 11-16 hours bracket. I made the mistake of rounding down initially and it caused a 4-week delay in my benefits while they "investigated" the discrepancy. The rep I finally spoke to explained that any time worked beyond the exact hour should be reported in the higher bracket. It's better to potentially get slightly reduced benefits for one week than deal with the headache of having your entire claim frozen. The NY system is designed to catch these small inconsistencies, so always err on the side of caution and round up!

omg I litterally thought I was the only one dealing with this!! my effective days went to 0 two weeks ago and then my payments just stopped completely. No notification or anything. I called 47 times yesterday (yes I counted) and couldn't get through to anyone. This is so frustrating!

I'm dealing with a similar situation right now - my effective days hit zero about a week ago and I'm getting really anxious about what happens next. Reading through all these responses is both helpful and terrifying! It sounds like the system is supposed to automatically transition you to extended benefits (PEUC) but fails pretty regularly. I'm definitely going to be proactive and not wait around for it to fix itself. Has anyone had success getting through by calling first thing Monday morning at 8am? I might try that before looking into the claimyr service people are mentioning. Also wondering if I should keep certifying even though my account shows zero days - sounds like that's important to do regardless.

Final important tip: Document absolutely everything during this process. Keep records of: 1. All case/reference numbers from ID.me, FTC, and both state unemployment offices 2. Names and ID numbers of every representative you speak with 3. Dates and times of all communications 4. Screenshots of any error messages or account status pages 5. Copies of all emails and correspondence This documentation becomes crucial if your case needs escalation or if you face any issues with backpay once your identity is verified. In 2025, NY unemployment is required to provide full backpay from your eligibility date once your identity is confirmed, but having this documentation makes the process much smoother.

This is such a common problem now - identity thieves are specifically targeting unemployment systems because they know people need those benefits urgently. A few additional things that helped me when I went through this: 1. If you have a smartphone, download the ID.me app - it's often faster than the website for scheduling video calls 2. Consider filing a complaint with your state attorney general's office too - they track patterns of unemployment fraud 3. Check your credit reports immediately at annualcreditreport.com - if someone filed unemployment in CA with your info, they might have opened other accounts 4. Keep your weekly NY certifications going even while this gets resolved - you don't want to miss any filing deadlines The good news is that NY has gotten much better at handling these cross-state fraud cases in 2025. Most people I know who followed the steps others mentioned here got resolved within 2-3 weeks. Hang in there!