Just wanted to share my experience since I went through something similar last year. Had the $0.00 showing for about 6 weeks and was losing my mind. Turns out my previous employer never responded to the wage verification request - that's what was holding everything up. Once I called and they expedited the employer contact, everything got resolved within 2 weeks and I got all my backpay. Definitely keep certifying every week no matter what because you'll get paid retroactively once it's sorted out. Also try calling first thing Monday morning at 8am sharp - that's when I finally got through without waiting hours. Don't give up! 🙏

Ugh, I'm in the exact same boat as you @Ravi Patel - filed my claim back in November too and still getting that same "we're working on your application" runaround. It's beyond frustrating when you're trying to pay bills and they just leave you hanging with zero communication. I've tried calling probably 100+ times and either get busy signals or sit on hold for hours just to get disconnected. Reading through everyone's comments here is honestly making me feel less alone in this mess. Definitely going to try that Monday 8am calling strategy @Amina Sy mentioned and might cave and use that claimyr service too. At this point $20 seems like nothing compared to the stress of not knowing what's going on with my claim. Keep your head up - sounds like we're all in this together! 💪

If you're having trouble getting clear answers from NYS Department of Labor about how wages affect your claim, I had good luck using Claimyr to actually talk to someone. They helped me get through to an agent when I had questions about my benefit calculation. Check out claimyr.com - there's even a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Way easier than trying to call the regular number.

This whole system is so needlessly complicated!! Why can't they just have ONE wage limit instead of making employers deal with federal AND state limits? No wonder payroll departments are always screwing things up.

Great to hear you got through and worked out a repayment plan! Just wanted to add one more tip for anyone else dealing with this - once your benefits restart, keep detailed records of every payment and deduction. NYSDOL's system sometimes has glitches where they'll apply the wrong deduction percentage or double-deduct in some cases. I had a friend who had a 25% repayment plan but they were taking 50% for three weeks before she noticed and called to correct it. They did fix it and refunded the difference, but it took another two weeks to get the adjustment. So just keep an eye on your deposit amounts to make sure they match what you agreed to! Also, you should receive a written confirmation of your repayment plan terms in the mail within 7-10 days. If you don't get it, call back and request it - you'll want that documentation just in case.

Just wanted to share my experience since I went through something very similar last month. My benefits were suspended for 6 weeks due to an overpayment issue that I had no idea about. The most frustrating part was that they never sent me any notice explaining what was happening - I only found out when I called after missing two payments. Here's what I learned: The overpayment hold is like a freeze on your entire account until you take action. Even if you're eligible for benefits during those weeks, they won't process ANY payments until the overpayment is addressed. In my case, I had to set up a repayment plan for 40% of my weekly benefit amount. The good news is that once I got the plan set up, they released all my backpay within 4 business days. They applied the 40% deduction to each week retroactively, so I still got 60% of what I was owed for those 6 weeks. It wasn't the full amount, but it was enough to catch up on bills. One tip that really helped me: When you call, ask them to email you a summary of your conversation and the repayment plan details. Having that in writing saved me when there was confusion about the terms later. Also, if the first agent seems unhelpful, politely ask to speak with a supervisor - I got much better service that way. Hang in there - it's a frustrating process but it does get resolved eventually!

The unemployment system is so frustrating! They make it seem like you can never quit but then there's all these exceptions that nobody tells you about. I wasted months at a terrible job because I thought I'd lose benefits if I left.

Before you quit, I'd strongly recommend documenting everything and maybe consulting with a worker's rights organization. A reduction from 35+ hours to 8-10 hours is pretty dramatic - that's basically going from full-time to barely part-time. NYS Department of Labor considers this type of significant hour reduction as potentially qualifying for "constructive dismissal" but you'll want to build a strong paper trail. Save all your schedules, paycheck stubs showing the income drop, and any communications about the hour changes. You might also want to formally request in writing (email works) that your hours be restored to previous levels - if they refuse or ignore you, that strengthens your case that the reduction was involuntary on their part.

Did you recently complete your first 10 weeks of benefits? Sometimes there's a recalculation that happens after the initial period, especially if there were any wage verification issues during your original claim processing.

I had a similar issue last year where my benefits suddenly dropped with no warning. In my case, it turned out that NYS Department of Labor had received updated wage information from a previous employer that changed my base period calculation. The really frustrating part is that they don't automatically send you a notice explaining the change - you have to specifically request a "monetary redetermination notice" to get the details. I'd suggest calling and asking specifically for that document, or if you can't get through by phone, try sending a secure message through your my.ny.gov account requesting an explanation of the benefit reduction and asking for any notices related to monetary redetermination.