What does benefit payment control mean for unemployment claim status?

Benefit payment control usually means your payment is being held for review. This can happen for several reasons - maybe there was an issue with your weekly certification, a discrepancy in your work search activities, or they need to verify some information. It doesn't necessarily mean you did anything wrong, but they need to review something before releasing your payment.

same thing happened to me last month!! turned out i had put the wrong dates for when i worked a temp job. took them like 2 weeks to fix it but i got all my back pay

Check your NYS Department of Labor account for any correspondence or requests for information. Sometimes they'll put a payment on hold if they need documentation about your job search activities or if there's a question about your availability for work. Look in your inbox and see if there are any action items you need to complete.

If you can't get through by phone, you might want to try using a service like Claimyr (claimyr.com). They help people get connected to NYS Department of Labor agents when the phone lines are jammed. I used them when I had an adjudication issue and couldn't reach anyone for weeks. There's a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Might be worth trying since benefit payment control issues usually need agent clarification.

UGH the NYS Department of Labor system is so frustrating! They put these random holds on payments and never explain what's happening. I had benefit payment control for THREE WEEKS last year and it turned out to be nothing - just some computer glitch. Meanwhile I'm stressing about bills and they act like it's no big deal.

Just to add - benefit payment control can also trigger if there's been unusual activity on your account or if their system flagged something for manual review. Sometimes it's as simple as certifying for benefits on a different day than usual or reporting earnings in a different format. The important thing is to not panic and get the right information from an agent about your specific situation.

I went through this exact same situation about 6 months ago! In my case, the benefit payment control was triggered because I had reported some freelance work income but hadn't provided enough detail about the dates. What helped me was logging into my account multiple times a day to check for any new messages or requests - sometimes they don't send email notifications right away. Also, try calling first thing in the morning around 8 AM when they open, that's when I finally got through. The hold lasted about 10 days for me but once resolved, I got all my back payments. Don't give up on trying to reach them by phone - persistence pays off!