


Ask the community...
I had issues reaching NYS Department of Labor when my payments were delayed last year. Kept getting busy signals and disconnected calls. Finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual agent in like 10 minutes. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Really helped me figure out why my claim was stuck in adjudication.
The whole system is designed to make you wait and hope you give up. I filed in December and didn't see money until February because they kept asking for more documents. Then when I finally got paid they said I owed them money back because of some error THEY made. NYS Department of Labor is a nightmare.
One thing to keep in mind is that if you're working part-time, you might qualify for partial unemployment benefits. NYS Department of Labor has a formula where they reduce your weekly benefit based on how much you earn, but you can still get something if your hours are really low. Just make sure you report all your earnings when you do your weekly certification.
MISCONDUCT is the big one they look for. If your employer claims you were fired for misconduct, you'll get disqualified and have to appeal. Even being late too many times can count as misconduct in their eyes. The system is designed to deny first and ask questions later.
ugh the whole system is set up to screw people over. they dont tell you about these deadlines clearly and then act like its your fault when you miss benefits. i waited 10 days after getting canned and lost 2 weeks of payments. make sure you file your weekly claims too even if your initial claim is still pending!!!
Just to add - being fired vs laid off doesn't matter as much as people think. What matters is whether you were fired 'for cause' like stealing or not showing up vs being fired for performance issues or company restructuring. Most terminations still qualify for UI benefits unless there was serious misconduct involved.
Omar Zaki
THE SYSTEM IS SO CONFUSING!!! Why can't they just make this simple - file when you lose your job, get money when you need it. Instead we have waiting weeks and adjudication and all this bureaucratic nonsense. Sorry OP but prepare yourself for a lot of frustration with NYS Department of Labor.
0 coins
Chloe Taylor
•I feel this so much, the whole process is needlessly complicated
0 coins
Ravi Kapoor
Quick tip - when you file online make sure you have a good internet connection and don't use your phone browser. The my.ny.gov site can be glitchy and you don't want to lose your application halfway through.
0 coins