


Ask the community...
The unemployment rate is just a statistic about how many people are unemployed vs employed. It has nothing to do with your specific claim approval. Your claim gets approved based on whether you worked enough quarters, earned enough wages, and had a qualifying separation reason. The rate could be 2% or 10% and it wouldn't change the eligibility rules.
I think your friend is confusing things. Maybe they're thinking about how during recessions sometimes there are temporary program changes or funding issues, but for regular UI claims the unemployment rate doesn't matter. NYS Department of Labor follows the same eligibility rules regardless of the economic climate.
The whole system is BROKEN. They deny legitimate claims all the time and then make YOU prove you deserve benefits. Automation has been destroying jobs for decades and they still don't have proper procedures for handling these cases. Fight this hard because they're hoping you'll just give up.
Actually this is a really interesting case because unemployment law has always recognized technological displacement as a valid reason for benefits. The fact that machines are doing work formerly done by humans is exactly the kind of economic shift unemployment insurance was designed to help with. Your appeal should be straightforward if you have proper documentation of the automation implementation.
I had a nightmare trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor when I was dealing with a misconduct determination. Spent hours on hold every day for weeks. Finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that connects you directly to unemployment agents by phone. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Got through to someone in 15 minutes instead of waiting all day. Really helped me explain my situation properly and get my claim approved.
The whole system is rigged against workers anyway. They make it SO hard to get benefits even when you deserve them. Employers can just claim anything is misconduct and then you have to fight it for months.
The unemployment rate being high is just an excuse NYS Department of Labor uses. They had plenty of time to prepare their systems and hire more staff. This is just government incompetence at its finest. We're all suffering while they take their sweet time processing claims that should be automated by now.
High unemployment definitely creates a ripple effect. More claims filed means longer waits for everyone. I remember during the 2008 recession it took forever to get through to anyone at NYS Department of Labor. Just have to be patient unfortunately, even though I know that's not what you want to hear when bills are due.
Zainab Khalil
Wait I thought if you worked long enough you automatically qualified? This is confusing because my neighbor said she got unemployment after retiring but maybe she was laid off and I misunderstood.
0 coins
NebulaKnight
•Length of work history determines how much you can receive and for how long, but you still need to meet the basic eligibility requirements. Your neighbor was probably laid off or terminated, not voluntarily retired.
0 coins
QuantumQuest
This whole system is broken honestly. You pay into unemployment insurance your whole career but can't use it when you need to make a major life decision like retiring. Meanwhile people who get fired for cause sometimes still collect benefits.
0 coins