NYS Department of Labor unemployment claim on hold - how long before resolution?
My unemployment claim has been on hold for about 2 weeks now and I'm starting to get really worried. The NYS Department of Labor website just shows 'pending adjudication' but doesn't give any timeline. I lost my job at a retail store in January and filed immediately but something must have triggered a review. I haven't received any mail or messages asking for additional info. Has anyone else had their claim stuck like this? How long should I expect to wait before they make a decision? I really need these benefits to pay rent.
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Connor O'Neill
Adjudication can take anywhere from 2-8 weeks depending on the complexity of your case. Since you mentioned retail work, they might be verifying your separation reason or work history. Check your my.ny.gov account daily for any requests for additional documentation. If there's nothing pending on your end, it's likely just processing volume.
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Zainab Ismail
•I've been checking every day but there's nothing asking for more info. Just says 'adjudication in progress' which is so frustrating because I don't even know what they're reviewing.
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Yara Nassar
mine was on hold for 6 weeks last year, turned out they were just verifying my employer info and it got resolved automatically. keep filing your weekly claims even while its pending
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Zainab Ismail
•Oh good point about the weekly claims! I wasn't sure if I should keep doing those. Did you get back pay for all the weeks it was pending?
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Yara Nassar
•yes got all the back pay once it was approved, just make sure you dont miss any weekly certifications
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Keisha Robinson
The NYS Department of Labor is notorious for slow adjudication times right now. If you can't wait any longer, you might want to try calling them directly. I know it's nearly impossible to get through on the regular line, but I recently discovered a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually gets you connected to a real NYS Department of Labor agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Might be worth it if you need answers about what's causing the hold.
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Zainab Ismail
•Never heard of that before. Is it legit? I've tried calling the regular number probably 50 times and either get busy signal or disconnected.
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Keisha Robinson
•Yeah it's real, they basically handle the waiting and callbacks for you so you can actually talk to someone at NYS Department of Labor about your specific case status.
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GalaxyGuardian
Two weeks isn't even that long honestly. I've seen people wait 3+ months during busy periods. The system is completely broken and they don't care about people struggling to pay bills while they take their sweet time 'reviewing' obvious cases.
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Paolo Ricci
•That's terrible but sadly true. Hope OP gets resolved soon!
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Andre Moreau
I'm going through something similar right now - my claim has been pending for about 3 weeks after I was laid off from my job in February. The waiting is incredibly stressful when you're trying to make ends meet. From what I've read on various forums, retail separations sometimes get flagged for review more often, possibly because they want to verify it wasn't a quit situation. I'd definitely recommend continuing to file your weekly claims like others mentioned - that seems to be crucial for getting back pay later. Have you tried reaching out to your local career center? Sometimes they can provide guidance or at least give you a better sense of typical wait times in your area. Hang in there!
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