NY unemployment back payment stuck in 'pending' for 2 months - anyone else?

Thanks for the response. Did you ever figure out why it happened? I'm worried I made some mistake on my certification but can't think of what it could be. 6 weeks sounds brutal - I'm already almost at 8 weeks with no end in sight.

TRUST ME, it's no mistake you made. the system is DESIGNED to be this dysfunctional!!! they WANT us to give up. i had 3 months of payments held up last year and every agent gave me a different story. one said it was a 'random review', another said 'system flag' and another said 'documentation needed' but nobody could tell me WHAT documentation!! absolute nightmare.

Thank you for this detailed explanation! Do you know if there's a special number to reach claims specialists directly? The main number seems completely useless.

I was stuck in pending for 7 weeks earlier this year, and what worked for me was using Claimyr (claimyr.com). It's a service that gets you through to an actual unemployment agent - saved me hours of redial hell. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE showing how it works. In my case, it turned out to be a random quarterly review flag that the agent cleared in literally 5 minutes once I actually got to talk to someone. All my back payments came through 3 days later.

I actually checked both my email and the message center in my account every day. There's nothing there explaining the pending status. That's what makes this so frustrating - no explanation at all!

Thank you so much for this detailed advice. I've been certifying regularly and checked for required actions (none showing). I'll try the 8 AM calling strategy tomorrow. Is there a specific subject line I should use for the secure message to get better attention?

Use something clear and specific in the subject line like "8 Weeks of Payments Stuck in Pending Status - Urgent". In the message, include your claim ID number, the exact dates of the pending payments, and state that you've received no communication explaining the delay. Be polite but convey urgency. This approach tends to get faster responses.

Oh no, I hope that's not what's happening to me. My employer and I parted on good terms, but who knows what's happening behind the scenes. How did you eventually get through on the phone? I've been trying for weeks with no luck.

Honestly, it was just pure persistence. I called 30+ times a day for a week straight. Best times seemed to be right at 8am when they open or around 2pm when lunch rush is over. I've heard some people have luck on Thursdays for some reason? No idea if that's true but might be worth trying. The whole system is intentionally difficult to navigate IMO.

bro same thing happend to my cousin they flag random accounts its so stupid

I just checked spam folder and there's nothing there from NYSDOL. I also tried logging in with Edge instead of Chrome, but still not seeing any notifications or required actions. This is so frustrating. I appreciate your help though!

Thank you for this suggestion. I'm going to try the early morning calls tomorrow as someone suggested, but if that doesn't work I might try this service. At this point I just need to talk to a real person who can actually see what's wrong with my claim.

Just to add to this discussion - while services like that can help you reach an agent faster, you can also try contacting your state representative's office. They often have dedicated staff who can escalate unemployment issues. It's a free option worth trying if you're having trouble connecting with NYSDOL directly.

UPDATE: I finally got this resolved! After trying for days to call with no luck, I ended up using Claimyr to get through to an agent. The agent told me my account had been flagged for "quarterly review" but nobody had actually reviewed it - it was just sitting in a queue. She cleared it manually and all my pending payments were processed within 48 hours. All 8 weeks of back pay hit my account yesterday! Such a relief. Thank you to everyone for the advice and support.