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I'm in the same boat with highest unemployment in my area and getting anxious about when my claim will be approved. What if they're prioritizing other regions? What if there's not enough funding allocated to areas like ours? Should I be doing something else while I wait?
The whole system is overwhelmed everywhere regardless of local unemployment rates! I've been dealing with NYS Department of Labor for months and it's the same story - delays, busy phone lines, unclear status updates. Areas with highest unemployment probably just have more people calling the same overloaded system.
If you're having trouble reaching someone at NYS Department of Labor to get a definitive answer about your specific situation, I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. It was really helpful when I couldn't get through the regular phone lines to ask about my eligibility questions.
Wait I'm confused - I thought they used your total annual earnings? My cousin said they look at everything you made in the past year and divide by 52 weeks. That's not right?
Just went through this last month. One thing to watch out for is if you had any gaps in employment or if you're seasonal - that can affect your base period and you might not qualify for the full amount even if your highest quarter looks good. Also make sure all your employers reported your wages correctly because I had to dispute mine when one job didn't report properly.
Whatever you do don't lie to them! They will find out and then you'll be in even worse trouble. I know someone who tried to hide why they got fired and they ended up having to pay back all their benefits plus penalties.
NYS Department of Labor sees this stuff all the time unfortunately. Performance issues vs misconduct is a big distinction for them. Like if you were late all the time or refused to do your job that's misconduct. But if they're saying you weren't meeting metrics or productivity standards, that's usually not considered misconduct that would disqualify you. The safety complaint angle might actually strengthen your case if you can show the timeline of when you made complaints vs when the 'performance issues' started being documented.
Marina Hendrix
THE WHOLE NYS DEPARTMENT OF LABOR SYSTEM IS A JOKE!!! I've been waiting 3 weeks for my payment after certifying and nobody can tell me why. The automated messages just say 'your claim is being processed' over and over. Meanwhile my rent is due and I can't even talk to a human being about it!
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Asher Levin
•that really sucks, have you checked if theres any action items in your online account? sometimes they need documents or verification
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Justin Trejo
Just want to add that after certification, if you're on standby status through your union, the process works a little differently. Your employer has to confirm your standby status each week too, so there's an extra step that can slow things down.
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