I had issues getting through to NYS Department of Labor when I had questions about my 1099-G form. Kept getting busy signals for weeks. Finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that gets you connected to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Made it so much easier to get my tax questions answered directly.

just want to add that if youre getting any other government benefits like SNAP or medicaid you definitely need to report your UI income to them too. they consider it income for eligibility purposes

Wait I thought if you worked long enough you automatically qualified? This is confusing because my neighbor said she got unemployment after retiring but maybe she was laid off and I misunderstood.

This whole system is broken honestly. You pay into unemployment insurance your whole career but can't use it when you need to make a major life decision like retiring. Meanwhile people who get fired for cause sometimes still collect benefits.

The whole unemployment system is designed to deny claims and make people give up. They know most people can't afford to wait months for appeals. It's disgusting how they treat people who are already struggling financially.

hang in there - appeals do work if you have the right documentation. also make sure you keep filing your weekly claims even while the appeal is pending or you'll lose those weeks

The whole system is BROKEN. They deny legitimate claims all the time and then make YOU prove you deserve benefits. Automation has been destroying jobs for decades and they still don't have proper procedures for handling these cases. Fight this hard because they're hoping you'll just give up.

Actually this is a really interesting case because unemployment law has always recognized technological displacement as a valid reason for benefits. The fact that machines are doing work formerly done by humans is exactly the kind of economic shift unemployment insurance was designed to help with. Your appeal should be straightforward if you have proper documentation of the automation implementation.

The unemployment rate is just a statistic about how many people are unemployed vs employed. It has nothing to do with your specific claim approval. Your claim gets approved based on whether you worked enough quarters, earned enough wages, and had a qualifying separation reason. The rate could be 2% or 10% and it wouldn't change the eligibility rules.

I think your friend is confusing things. Maybe they're thinking about how during recessions sometimes there are temporary program changes or funding issues, but for regular UI claims the unemployment rate doesn't matter. NYS Department of Labor follows the same eligibility rules regardless of the economic climate.