How long does it take for unemployment benefits to start in NY?
I just filed my initial claim with NYS Department of Labor last Tuesday and I'm wondering how long does it take for unemployment benefits to actually start coming through? I've been out of work for almost 3 weeks now and really need to know when I can expect my first payment. My claim status just says 'under review' but doesn't give any timeline. Has anyone recently gone through this process? I'm getting stressed about my rent payment next week.
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Ravi Gupta
The typical timeline for NYS Department of Labor is about 2-3 weeks from when you file your initial claim to receiving your first payment, assuming there are no issues. Since you filed last Tuesday, you're probably looking at getting your first payment sometime next week if everything goes smoothly. Make sure you're filing your weekly claims even while it's under review - that's really important.
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Isabella Santos
•Thank you! I did file my first weekly claim yesterday. Should I keep doing that every week even if my claim is still under review?
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GalacticGuru
took me about 10 days to get my first payment but that was back in november, might be different now with the holidays and stuff
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Freya Pedersen
Yes, definitely keep filing your weekly claims! That's crucial - you won't get paid for any weeks you don't certify for, even if your claim gets approved later. The NYS Department of Labor processes payments on specific days of the week based on your last name, so once you're approved you should see a pretty regular pattern.
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Omar Fawaz
•Wait what do you mean by specific days based on last name?? I never heard about this before
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Freya Pedersen
•NYS Department of Labor releases payments on different days - if your last name starts A-F you typically get paid Tuesday, G-N on Wednesday, O-Z on Thursday. But this can vary depending on holidays and processing delays.
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Chloe Anderson
I had issues reaching anyone at NYS Department of Labor when my claim was delayed for weeks. Finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Within a day of talking to the agent my claim was processed and I got backpay for all the weeks I'd been waiting.
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Isabella Santos
•How much does something like that cost? I'm already tight on money which is why I need the unemployment
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Chloe Anderson
•Worth checking out their site for details, but honestly getting weeks of backpay made it totally worth it for me. The stress of not knowing what was happening with my claim was killing me.
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Diego Vargas
The whole system is a MESS right now. Three weeks is nothing - I waited SIX WEEKS for my claim to get approved and they never explained why it took so long. Just kept saying 'under review' the whole time. Make sure you have backup plans because the NYS Department of Labor timeline is completely unreliable.
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Anastasia Fedorov
•omg six weeks?? that's insane, what did you do for money during that time?
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Anastasia Fedorov
hope it works out for you! the waiting is the worst part but once it kicks in you should get all the backpay from when you first filed
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Zara Ahmed
I went through this same process about 2 months ago and it took exactly 16 days from filing to getting my first payment. The key thing is to keep filing those weekly certifications religiously - I almost missed one week because I thought it didn't matter while under review, but thankfully caught it. Also, if you haven't already, make sure you have direct deposit set up because that speeds things up by a few days compared to waiting for a debit card to arrive in the mail. Hang in there, the wait is stressful but you should see movement soon!
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