The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development
reviews and complaints

I filled a claim for temporary disability for maternity leave on 11/9/23. All necessary documents were submitted by myself and my doctor. The website said claims are processed in less than 4 weeks yet here I am 7 weeks later and my claim status is still "undetermined". So it hasn't even been reviewed yet and we're about to enter a new year. When I call to find out what's going on I'm met with a generic "we're experiencing delays" response with no real ETA on when I can expect a response. And now because of the holidays no one wants to work. The representative I spoke with the last time I called literally told me that it wouldn't be investigated until after the holidays. Perhaps I should have all my bills forwarded to their address

I was receiving unemployment payments in September into October and then they stopped processing my payment, even though I have not exhausted the benefit . I called on 10/31(after many tries) and once I got through, they said they needed proof I rolled over a small pension into my 401k. They sent me a form to attach a copy of proof which I did and sent it back to them and received an email on 11/1 saying they received it. Unfortunately, I am still getting the "unable to process" message when certifying. I have been trying for almost a month to contact them but are never able to get through on the phone. They always say "due to high call volume they are not able to help, please call back the next business day". This is pure incompetence by the state and highly reflects on the person running the DOL and the governor for not fixing the issues. I've worked over 30 years and never collected and this is how the people are treated, terrible, shame on you NJDOL.

I filed a complaint against a former employer in September 2022. The employer changed locations. AN updated address was given on July 3, 2023, The certified mail was confirmed received. On October 20, 2023, I receive a default award due to the employer not showing up. A week later the DOL vacated the award due to the employer claiming not to received the certified summons. I sent the award letter via certified to the same address the summons was sent, it was recieved. The same address the employer claimed did not exist. This should have been enough to deny the vacating of the failure to appear. The NJ DOL says they will send by email from now on. This is not Policy, guidelines or rules of procedure. The employer is attempting to Circumvent the guidelines, blatantly lied and ignored the summons. Procedures were violated and I demanded the award be reinstated, dol says no. Claim # WC-[protected]-KAN

I filed for New Jersey unemployment on 7/2/2023. I have not been about to get a hold of anyone to review my claim. I call everyday only for the recording to tell me to call back the next business day. I call numerous times during the day with the same result. When I look at my claim it says filed. When I try to certify for weeks benefits it tells me I have to talk to a representative. I have emailed them also and get no response. I need help!

I filed for unemployment on 02/28/2023 due to mistreatment from employer because of an accommodations request, also applied for temporary disability 03/01/2023. Last day I officially worked was 03/08/2023 due to back and forth of not knowing what to do although I was awaiting a decision from accommodations, 02/24/2023 I wrote up the unfair treatment and was all the while being retaliated against while awaiting the accommodations decision on employers behalf, my Dr, already submitted all medical evidence to support my accommodation, I lost hours and was forced to leave anyway which although I was technically still employed, my claim should still be valid for partial week due to the evidence presented as well as the mistreatment which ultimately led to me being forced on leave and waiting almost 5 months for a decision from disability just to get 2 months in which my Dr tried to request 2 more months from employer who refused to acknowledge the accommodation request and fire me on 05/26/2023 while on leave

We 62 employees worked at Chinese and Sushi at Shoprite of World Class at:

Middletown Shoprite World Class

Marlboro Shoprite World Class

Rt 37 Shoprite World Class

Earnston Rd Parlin Shoprite World Class

Wall Shoprite World Class

Piscataway Shoprite World Class

Demand for overtime pay. Employer promised bonus also did not come true. Force to take cash to obtain medicaid replacing health care in NY

This morning about 920 am on July 13,2023. I got a women on the phone. She was very very rude. I was supposed to call to renew my benefits. I am supposed to get a check next week. I was trying to speak to this woman I was trying to explain my situation. And she wouldn’t even listen to me. She just said to ok ok goodbye. I don’t get this at all I really don’t at all. I live in poverty and I have been looking for a job for the last three months. I just want why this happening to me. I don’t understand. I just why she was so rude and hung up

As of today, June 15, 2023 I have been unable to get through to talk to someone about conflicts in my status regarding certification of weekly benefits. Absolutely no information provided on state unemployment website as a recourse to this problem: claim status is active, benefits amount established, weekly allowance and total funds available, and that I may certify for these benefits. However, when I do so, an error message appears stating the “benefits year for the date of my claim of 06/04/23 has expired and no benefits are available”

I have called the local phone number provided for assistance and have followed the prompts, which asks me instead of holding to provide information for a call back time, which I provided.

When the call arrives I again follow the prompts except they fail to execute

for reasons unknown. After entering the number prompted for assistance it repeated itself but still it didn’t register and “your time has expired “ comes up! When I try to repeat the entire process and redial the local number a voice states that my call cannot be answered and to “call back the next day”, less than 90 minutes after the call line has opened up!

I fail to understand at after 9:20 am until 4:30 pm when the office closes, 7 hours (!) that no one can take my call due to the volume of calls waiting. This is absolutely unacceptable , and totally ridiculous for a state department to leave no recourse for the individual with a problem in which human interaction is the only way it can be solved.

We are not in NJ but we employ person(s) from NJ from time to time. I file the WR 30 and NJ-927 online each quarter. I filed the WR-30 on 1/3/2023 for 2022 Qtr and had to add on more wages. I received two electronic confirmations for these two filings for the WR-30. Then we receive a penalty for $10 for 4th qtr 2022. I called the ph# [protected]. I get a lady who only told me that the WR-30 was incomplete. She didn't look into what was wrong and try to correct off the penalty. She just told me to abate it. I have gone through this time consuming process with NJ several times (write letters to abate penalties, wait,

and when NJ sees the error, they abate the charge but expect the taxpayer to write again requesting their refund). What kind of exploitation is this? They blocked my calls, hung up and never corrected anything. Why are they employed if they are not competent, ethical and professional enough to solve problems and adequately assist taxpayers?

The fact they do not put you on hold or have a schedule a-call feature on their call center is a joke. I cannot get anyone on the phone to find out why I did not qualify for weekly benefits so I can check if I may have put something in wrong. I called around Monday numerous times on April 10th and the number takes me to an automated voice message and kept putting me in the endless info confirmation only to say nobody is available to help me and just hangs up. Every customer service in general would put a customer on hold so the next available agent will get to them or a schedule a call feature so they can call you back at some point so the fact this feature is not implemented shows how incompetent the unemployment center is to help the unemployed

On 02/14/22 I was taken by ambulance to Morristown Hospital because it was suppected that I was having a heart attack, I was throwing up and couldn't catch my breath. The call was placed by a employee of the Law Office in the building. This was brought on by the continual verbal abuse, which was more extreme than usual. As a result I was advised by doctors not to return to work due to the toxic atsmophere of the work place.

The employer still maintans that I continue to be employed by the agency, although I have not returned the workplace since leaving 02/14/2022.

If I am still a employee I should be receiving my commissions from any of the policies that renewed for my clients.

Because they maintains that I am employed at Edward R. DeFeo Ageny I have not been able to collect Workers Comprensation or Unemployment Benefits. I have been without income since 02/15/22 and have been evicted from by home in Hamburg, NJ and had to move into my sisters house in Manchester, NJ 08759. I was paid for 02/14/2022 like it vacation day when I went to the hospital.

I have a Voya Account with a $4,000 balance and I can not withdraw the money since they say I am still an employee. I have been unable to take the required by Law Manitory Distributions required from the Voya Account.

The work environtment was so toxic we were not allowed to take our allotted breaks or lunch hour since Covid because we were told that we were lucky to still have a job. It was known I needed the job.

Impossible to get through, regardless of when I call. Depending upon the number used, I get either a "Due to high call volume message, please call back later ... or call back on the following business day." Why bother having a recording at all? An agent did, at some point, contact me about my multiple claims (miraculously), but I missed the call and it went to voicemail. She left a message describing what was needed and asked me to call back at one of the 'dead-end' numbers that I've vainly attempted to get through.

Why don't they email the individual instead, so that requested information may then be promptly supplied to the Unemployment Office? I'll venture a guess - because they DON'T WANT ANYONE FILING FOR UNEMPLOYMENT! Fortunately, I managed to schedule a 30 minute in-person meeting several weeks from now (and 45 minutes away from my home), for information that could be readily provided over the phone in less than ONE MINUTE! The bureaucracy is breathtaking.

I am not going to spend countless hours calling and getting auto hang ups with the same message to call back "the next business day. I have made 40 plus calls so far . Every time I certify my weekly benefits I get the same message call your reemployment center because my claim is not payable. This is ridiculous for a government agency. As a US taxpayer and State of NJ taxpayer I believe I deserve better customer service since my Unemployment insurance payment is promptly taken out of my paycheck in a timely manner every two weeks. A simple real response via email would suffice. Not the autogenerated BS they send out. This borderlines criminal. For all the great things this state provides , this agency "drops the ball." As an employee in a customer service field , I am sure I would have been terminated for lack of contact and follow . I'm quite sure I not the only one. Thank You and I hope to hear soon.

Regards,

Roger Mitchell

claimant ID #[protected]

I was fired from my retail job on 7/25/22 but didn't apply for Unemployment until late August. At that time, I encountered multiple problems trying to get a valid ID to file a claim due to someone else fraudulently, with the email address [protected]@aol.com, filed a claim using my SSN and birth date. This problem kept me from filing the questionnaire about work availability since it kept going to the wrong email. I tried multiple time to correct the problem, but I was always informed to update my password and username referencing the incorrect email address and not mine, [protected]@aol.com. After 3 months, finally got the issued resolved and was able to collect my benefits dated 9/10/22-11/19/22, which were direct deposited into my bank account on 11/16/22-11/23/22. I didn't receive any August benefits and have no clue where they went. Anyway, I made the mistake of putting on the claim certification I was unable to work out of my home since my husband became hospitalized 9/10/22 and I wasn't sure if he was going to recover from this problem or not. I received a Notice of Determination 12/17/22 that I was ineligible for the benefits from 09/04/22 because I was not available for work and I showed no evidence, I made any arrangement for someone else to provide care for him so I could work. So, I'm supposed to work to pay for someone else to take care of my husband? His nursing home stay from 9/16/22 - 12/24/22 took all of his Medicare coverage and other insurance. I appealed to Peter Toulas only to be told "Claimant is ineligible for benefits from 8/07/22 through 01/07/2023, as the claimant was not available for work" AND " claimant is liable for refund in the sum of $3,718 received as benefits for the weeks ending 9/10/22 through 11/19/22 in accordance with your rules. I'm 68 and my husband is 79, both retired from the government after 40 years of working daily and at this stage of our lives, should be enjoying each other and not still having to find employment to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. I'm at a loss for words how this whole unemployment thing benefits anyone that worked hard, paid into it and can't count on collecting it back when needed the most.

I filed a disability claim and the status say ineligible. There is no explanation why I wouldn't be eligible. I have doctors notes stating that I cannot work. I had an injury that required surgery. I can't imagine not being eligible. I have paid into disability my entire working life and have never made a claim before. Nobody answers the phone when I call. This system is terrible. I don't know how people are supposed to live and pay their bills. I have gone 10 weeks without a paycheck or disability check.

The owner Cosimo Lazare verbally abused me and then fired me because he said my best was not good enough and I could not perform the job. I have him on a video stating this. He was not paying into unemployment. I have not been able to recieve my unemployment payment because he claims that he did not fire me,despite being on a video. He also hires illegal ailens and avoids paying into the system. I understand that he has a right to fire me. But he is purposely lying so he doesnt have to pay my unemployment benefits. Its also questionable if he possess state licences for all the work he performs.

I applied for benefits in MARCH 2022 for one week that I was laid-off from my job. ONE WEEK. I never received any information about ID.me and after 2 weeks of no benefits I called and was advised I had to go through the ID.me process. I completed the ID.me process and was told that it was completed. So I went into my benefits not realizing that the system pushed it to the next week. Of course, as usual, no benefits went through. I called Unemployment and was told that ID.me may have updated and completed their review but it takes Unemployment 2-3 weeks to catch up and to wait. So I wait. It's not April. I checked the site again and still nothing. I called and was told because the wrong "pay week" was in the system it will take a while to correct and to wait again. I wait. On 6/11 I speak to someone again and was told to "wait to see the next payable week of 3/14 then you can try to claim, but it may take another 6-8 week. So I wait. AGAIN. It is now 8/8. I write to the Governor to complain. No surprised, NO response.

I am a union employee. Lay-offs happen often. This time it was just for one week but I never know if I will be laid off extended periods. I cannot afford to have this hung up in your system for almost SIX - COUNT THEM: S-I-X MONTHS! I call and can't get through on the phone lines. I call week days, I call weekends, I call early and I call late. THIS IS ridiculous. I am NOT trying to claim benefits for covid related anything. I worked all through covid. I am NOT trying to scam your system out of one lousy weeks pay. I just want everything corrected so that when, or if, I am laid off for an extended period of time I don't lose my home! Is that too much to ask? Is six months waiting NOT long enough!?

I am at a loss. No one responds, no calls are answered. HELP!

Eric Meyers

On January 2021, I filed out an application to receive unemployment benefits. Months later, I received a letter informing me, that my benefits had been approved. It's been over a year and a half , and I haven't received my benefits. I have called the labor office in Vineland NJ many times, and only get excuses and they tell me to keep waiting. I need the money and I can't keep waiting.