How to win unemployment appeal for quitting - NYS Department of Labor hearing next week
I'm freaking out because I have my NYS Department of Labor hearing scheduled for next Tuesday and I don't know what to expect. I quit my job at a warehouse because my supervisor was creating a hostile work environment - making inappropriate comments, changing my schedule last minute constantly, and basically trying to force me out. When I applied for unemployment benefits, NYS Department of Labor initially denied my claim saying I quit voluntarily without good cause. I filed an appeal immediately but now I'm terrified I won't be able to prove my case. Has anyone successfully won an appeal for quitting? What kind of evidence do I need to bring to convince the administrative law judge that I had good cause? I've been without income for 2 months now and really need these benefits.
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MidnightRider
You absolutely can win this type of appeal! The key is documenting everything that led to your decision to quit. For hostile work environment cases, NYS Department of Labor looks for a pattern of behavior that would compel a reasonable person to quit. Do you have any written records of the inappropriate comments or schedule changes? Text messages, emails, or even a journal you kept documenting incidents with dates and witnesses? Also, did you try to address these issues with HR or higher management before quitting? The administrative law judge will want to see that you attempted to resolve the situation first.
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Carmen Ortiz
•I do have some text messages from my supervisor about last-minute schedule changes, and I did complain to the shift manager once but nothing was done. Should I bring witness statements from coworkers who saw what was happening?
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MidnightRider
•Yes, definitely bring those text messages and any witness statements you can get. Even if your coworkers can't attend the hearing, written statements with their contact information can be helpful. The shift manager complaint is good too - shows you tried internal resolution first.
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Andre Laurent
I won my appeal last year for quitting due to unsafe working conditions. The most important thing is being organized and presenting your case clearly. Bring multiple copies of all your evidence - one for yourself, one for the judge, and one for your former employer's representative. Practice explaining your timeline of events beforehand. The hearing isn't as scary as it sounds - the judge just wants to understand what happened and whether you had good cause under NYS Department of Labor guidelines.
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Carmen Ortiz
•That's reassuring to hear someone actually won! How long did the hearing take and did your employer show up to argue against you?
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Zoe Papadopoulos
ugh this is exactly what happened to me except i didnt keep any records of anything and lost my appeal. make sure you have EVERYTHING documented because the employer will probably send someone to argue their side. they might say you were a bad employee or that the incidents never happened. wish i had known to keep better records
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Carmen Ortiz
•I'm sorry you lost your appeal! That's exactly what I'm worried about. Did the employer's representative say anything that surprised you during the hearing?
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Jamal Washington
If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to ask questions about your hearing, I'd suggest checking out claimyr.com - it's a service that helps people reach unemployment agents by phone when the lines are constantly busy. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. I used it when I was trying to get clarification about my own appeal process and finally got through to someone who could explain what documents I needed to bring.
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Mei Wong
•Never heard of this but honestly anything is better than sitting on hold for hours with NYS Department of Labor. Have you actually tried it yourself?
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Jamal Washington
•Yeah I used it about a month ago when I couldn't get through about a different issue. Worked pretty well and saved me a lot of time trying to call repeatedly.
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Liam Fitzgerald
Good luck with your hearing! I had one last year for a different reason and the judge was actually pretty fair. Just stick to the facts and don't get emotional even if your employer says things that upset you. The burden is on you to prove good cause for quitting, so focus on presenting your evidence clearly.
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Harper Hill
I went through something similar about 6 months ago when I quit due to discrimination issues at my job. One thing that really helped me was organizing everything chronologically - I made a timeline with dates, what happened each time, and any evidence I had for each incident. The judge appreciated having it laid out clearly. Also, if you have any documentation showing you tried to follow company policy for reporting these issues (like employee handbook procedures), bring that too. It shows you were trying to work within the system before quitting. Don't forget to bring proof of your job search efforts since quitting - it shows you're actively trying to get back to work. The whole process was nerve-wracking but the judge really did seem to want to get to the truth of what happened.
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Emma Thompson
•This is really helpful advice, thank you! I never thought about creating a chronological timeline - that's a great idea to keep everything organized. I do have my employee handbook and can show I followed the reporting procedure by complaining to the shift manager. Quick question - what kind of job search documentation did you bring? Just applications I've submitted or something more detailed?
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