We understand that there has been a lot of confusion over the past week, regarding labor and unemployment benefits. First, I want to thank you all for continuing to serve our residents through these challenging times. Second, the NYS Department of Labor is in fact experiencing high volumes of calls to our centers and log-ins to our website. They are causing massive delays but we are continuing to actively serve all residents of the State and have made necessary adjustments in order to combat these delays.
Here are a few items that I would like to share with you and I encourage you to use for relevant inquiries from your constituencies.
Anyone who meets the criteria for unemployment benefits will receive their benefit. Please be patient and keep trying.
We have increased our server capacity, and bandwidth, in order to allow clients to complete their applications and get through our system.
We have added additional staff to our call centers and they have already begun answering calls. We are also working on expanding our hours.
As of March 20th 2020, New York State does not meet the guidelines that the Federal Government has set for the extended benefits. However, we are continuing to monitor with hope that we can receive the extension.
Clients DO NOT have to file anything else with NYS-DOL besides their original unemployment filing.