How to speed up NY unemployment claim stuck in 'further investigation' for months?

I was in a similar situation last month. What worked for me was specifically mentioning 'financial hardship' and requesting a 'priority review due to imminent eviction.' Don't just say you're waiting - be specific about the exact consequences you're facing. When you call, immediately ask for a 'claims examiner' rather than speaking to the first-level rep. The claims examiners have more authority to flag cases for expedited review. Also, have you tried reaching out to your state assembly member's office? They often have direct channels to DOL and can help push your claim through faster.

The whole 'case under further investigation' thing is RIDICULOUS!! Been there twice in the past year. Both times they were 'investigating' something that could have been resolved in 5 minutes if they'd just bothered to READ THE DOCUMENTS I ALREADY SUBMITTED!!!! The system is designed to make you give up!! If you're not getting through on the phone, try this: call at EXACTLY 7:58am. Not 8am when they officially open. The phone system actually starts accepting calls a couple minutes before official hours and you'll jump ahead of the 8am rush. That's how I finally got a real person who helped me.

Same thing happened to me. They lost my employer verification or something. My friend told me about Claimyr (claimyr.com) which is a service that basically waits on hold for you and calls when an agent is ready. It saved me like 3 hours of hold time. They have a video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE After I got through, I asked for a supervisor right away and explained that I'd been waiting over 10 weeks and was about to be evicted. They escalated my case and I got my determination within 5 days.

my claim was stuck for 5 months!!! i got it fixed by calling and saying i have documentation that proves my case and am willing to email it directly to whoever i'm speaking with. worked like magic, they connected me to a supervisor who gave me her direct email and she fixed it in 2 days. dont give up!!

I work as a claim navigator for a nonprofit that helps people with unemployment issues. Here's what I recommend based on helping hundreds of clients with this exact problem: 1. Document everything. Keep a log of every call - date, time, representative name/ID, and what they told you. 2. Request a formal appeal of your "pending" status. Many people don't realize you can actually appeal the lack of determination, not just a denial. This forces the DOL to look at your claim within 14 days. 3. File Form UF-5.2 (Request for Claim Status Update). This form specifically triggers an internal review of stalled claims. You can download it from the NY DOL website. 4. Contact your state assembly member and state senator simultaneously. Their constituent services can often get results within 7-10 days. 5. If you're facing eviction or utility shutoff, request a "Director's Special Review" - this is an actual internal process at NYSDOL for hardship cases, but frontline reps rarely offer it. Happy to provide more specific guidance if you need it.

i had my case stuck for 2 months cause of a "further investigation" and i just kept calling every single day until i got someone nice. its totally random, some reps will help and others wont even try. so frustrating!!! but keep trying different days and different times, eventually you'll get lucky

I'm dealing with the EXACT same issue right now, but mine's only been under "further investigation" for about 5 weeks. Hearing that you've been waiting 3 months is terrifying me. I'm curious - did they tell you what they're actually investigating? In my case, they said something about "verifying my employment history" even though I submitted all my W-2s and pay stubs already. Has anyone had any luck with the online message center instead of calling? I've sent two messages and haven't heard anything back yet.

Wait, I just realized - did you check if your claim got flagged for identity verification? This happened to me and NOBODY TOLD ME. I was waiting for months, calling constantly, and then finally got a rep who noticed there was an identity verification request that never got sent to me!!! It was sitting in the system for WEEKS. Ask them specifically if you need to complete ID verification - that might be the holdup.

Based on what you've shared, I think you've got some great advice here. The most effective approach would be combining several of these strategies: 1. Use the early morning call trick (7:58am approach) 2. Specifically request a claims examiner 3. Use the exact language "financial hardship" and "imminent eviction" 4. Submit Form UF-5.2 as mentioned by the nonprofit worker 5. Contact your state assembly member (find yours at nyassembly.gov) One other thing that can help - if you have any documentation showing the financial impact of the delay (eviction notice, late payment notices, etc.), offer to email these directly to the DOL representative. This creates a paper trail and often motivates them to escalate your case. Don't give up - I've seen claims stuck for months suddenly get resolved with the right approach.

my brothers girlfriends cousin works for unemployment and she says they have a secret code in there system that can push claims through faster but they only use it if ur situation is really bad or if u know someone who works there. not very helpful i guess but maybe try saying ur about to be homeless? worth a shot

Update: I tried calling at 7:57am today using the early morning trick someone suggested, and I actually got through after only about 20 minutes! The rep was much more helpful than previous ones. She confirmed that my case WAS stuck because they were waiting for my former employer to respond to their inquiry. I explained my financial hardship situation and specifically requested a "Director's Special Review" as someone here suggested. She initially said she couldn't do that, but when I mentioned I had documentation of potential eviction and was going to contact my assembly member, she put me on hold and came back saying she'd escalate it to a supervisor. She gave me a special reference number for the escalation and said I should hear something within 5-7 business days. Fingers crossed this actually works! I'll update again when I know more.

This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with a similar situation - my claim has been "under investigation" for 7 weeks now and I was starting to lose hope. Reading everyone's experiences and strategies gives me some concrete steps to try. @Alice Pierce - so encouraging to see your update about getting through with the early morning call! I'm definitely going to try that 7:57am approach tomorrow. The reference number thing is huge - at least now you know someone is actually looking at your case. One thing I wanted to add that might help others: I found out that if you're calling from a mobile phone, sometimes the call quality issues can cause you to get disconnected more often. I started calling from a landline at my local library and had better luck staying connected during those long hold times. Not sure if it's coincidence but worth mentioning! Also planning to download that Form UF-5.2 that @Kingston Bellamy mentioned. Had no idea that even existed. This system is so confusing but at least we're helping each other figure it out!

I'm going through the exact same nightmare right now - my claim has been "under further investigation" for 6 weeks and I'm running out of savings fast. This thread is incredibly helpful though, I had no idea about most of these strategies! I'm definitely going to try the 7:57am calling trick tomorrow and ask specifically about identity verification issues. That's such a good point about how they might not even tell you if there's an ID verification request sitting in the system. One question for everyone - has anyone had success with actually showing up in person at a local DOL office? I know they discourage walk-ins but I'm wondering if being physically present might get better results than endless phone calls. There's an office about 30 minutes from me and I'm honestly desperate enough to try anything at this point. @Alice Pierce - really hoping your escalation works out! Please keep us posted on what happens with that reference number.

I went through this exact situation last year and it was absolutely maddening! My claim was stuck for 4 months with the same "further investigation" status. What finally broke it loose was a combination of things: 1. I filed a complaint with the NY Department of Labor's Inspector General office - there's an online form for reporting administrative delays and inefficiencies. This created an official record of the delay. 2. I contacted both my state senator AND assembly member on the same day. The assembly member's office was more responsive and had a dedicated unemployment liaison who knew exactly how to escalate these cases. 3. Most importantly - I discovered that my employer had been sent THREE separate verification requests but never responded to any of them. The DOL rep told me they "couldn't contact the employer directly" but when I mentioned I was filing an IG complaint, suddenly they found a way to send a certified mail request with a 10-day deadline. The whole thing got resolved within 2 weeks after months of nothing. Don't let them tell you there's nothing they can do - there are definitely internal processes they can use if you push hard enough. Document everything and make it clear you're willing to escalate beyond just phone calls. Hang in there - I know how desperate and frustrated you must be feeling right now!

I've been lurking in this community for a while but this thread finally motivated me to create an account and share my story. I went through almost the exact same thing - my claim was stuck in "further investigation" for 10 weeks and I was about to lose my apartment. What worked for me was a combination of several strategies mentioned here, but the game-changer was actually contacting my state senator's office. I called my assembly member first and they were helpful, but the senator's office had a direct contact at DOL who could actually see what was causing the delay in real-time. Turns out my case was sitting in a queue because the automated system flagged me for "potential fraud" due to having multiple W-2s from the same year (I had two part-time jobs). This was something that could have been resolved in 5 minutes if anyone had actually looked at my file, but it just sat there for months because no human eyes were on it. The senator's liaison was able to get it moved to a manual review queue and I had a determination within 3 business days. I wish I had contacted them sooner instead of wasting months on phone calls that went nowhere. Also want to echo what others have said about the early morning calling trick - it absolutely works. The reps seem less burned out and more willing to actually help before 9am. @Alice Pierce - really hoping your escalation works out! Keep us posted on what happens with that reference number.