How long does an employer have to contest unemployment benefits in NYS?

Employers in New York have 10 calendar days from when they receive the initial notice of your claim to respond and contest it. However, NYS Department of Labor can accept late protests if the employer shows good cause for the delay. The fact that you've been collecting for two months and they're just now contesting suggests they either missed the initial deadline or recently discovered something that made them want to challenge the claim.

this happened to my friend last year! her employer waited like 6 weeks then suddenly contested saying she was fired for attendance issues. turned out they can contest late if they claim they never got the original notice or if they find new evidence of misconduct

If you were legitimately laid off due to downsizing, you should be fine at the hearing. Make sure you have any documentation from your employer about the layoff - emails, termination letter, anything that shows it was due to lack of work and not misconduct. The burden is on the employer to prove you're not eligible for benefits. Also, even if they contest late, NYS Department of Labor will still hold the hearing to determine if your benefits should continue.

THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS RIGGED! employers can basically contest whenever they want and nys department of labor just goes along with it. meanwhile we're the ones who suffer and have to prove we deserve benefits we already qualified for. its complete BS that they can wait months then suddenly decide to contest

Wait I'm confused - if the 10 day deadline is supposed to be firm, how can they contest after two months? That doesn't seem fair at all. What if someone already spent their benefits on rent and bills?

I had trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor directly about a similar contest situation, but I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually got me through to a real person who could explain exactly what was happening with my case. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Might be worth checking out if you need to talk to someone at NYS Department of Labor about your hearing or what to expect.

oh this reminds me of when my brother got laid off from his construction job and his employer tried to say he quit! it was such a mess but he had witnesses who saw him get laid off with the whole crew. anyway the hearing went fine once he brought his coworkers to testify. employers try this stuff all the time but if you have proof you should be ok

Just went through something similar last year when my employer contested after 3 weeks. The key thing to remember is that even if they're allowed to contest late, you don't automatically lose your benefits or have to pay anything back unless they can actually prove misconduct or that you quit voluntarily. Keep collecting your benefits while the hearing process plays out - they won't stop payments just because of a contest. Document everything about your layoff situation and stay calm. The hearing officers are pretty good at spotting when employers are just fishing or trying to save money on their unemployment insurance rates.