New York State Department of Labor
reviews and complaints

I have not received my Unemplyment Insurance payments despite being approved because no agent will answer my call. I get an "agents are busy" automated message every time I call. I've called dozens of times and I cannot receive a payment until I verify by phone. I need to receive these payments since I've been laid off from my job and I have a wife and 2 children to support. Please advise. My phone number is [protected] and my email address is [protected]@yahoo.com. Thank you

I submitted my unemployment application in mid-February 2023. MY APPLICATION IS STILL IN PENDING STATUS! UNACCEPTABLE! I have a family! I have Bills! HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE! STILL WAITING FOR MY MONEY! Again, UNACCEPTABLE! The customer service is horrible! You can't even get a live person on the phone! I had a rep call me 6 weeks ago saying the only needed was for me to do the Verify Me. I DID THAT, AND STILL NOTHING! I file my weekly claim every SINGLE week, and I haven't received any correspondence at all! Not even eligibility for benefits letter! NOTHING! WHEN CAN I RECEIVE MY UNEMPLOYMENT PAYMENTS? WHEN WILL SOMEONE DO THEIR JOB AND CONTACT ME! I will be filing complaints wherever I can to get the word out there that the NY Dept of Labor DOES NOT CARE about the people of New York!

Imagine calling over and over again only to be told the lines are too busy and instead of having a queue like normal businesses they ask u to call back and end the call!

Its funny when I first filed TWO MONTHS AGO, they sent me paperwork needing certian information and I sent it right back. Not a damn thing has been done since.

Here’s a thought you useless state, if there are this many people calling and unemployed MAKE SOME JOB OPENINHS.

The service is atrocious just like this disgusting state.

I was terminated 11/17/22, Filed 11/18/22

Understandably my week would begin 11/22/22. I received my notice stating what my payment would be ($504) the highest amount allotted.Also notified to begin my weekly claims week of 11/28/22 which I did & continuously am doing. HOWEVER it’s been 8 weeks, not one payment received, none released, still in pending status. I can’t get a live person all phone numbers provided disconnect me immediately & NO response to my emails sent on my account through DOL website. I’m in dire need of assurance my savings in at almost 0. This is unacceptable! This is what UI is needed for HELP. And there is none.

I would like to remain anonymous, I am fearful of losing my job. I have a co-worker who gets paid for holidays yet other hourly employees do not, additionally, the owners will hand over money to her in front of other staff members stating thank you for a job well done.

There are several ethnic groups working in the store and it appears as though there are favoritisms, while the store was closed for covid several employees were paid unemployment and paid by the employer. The store was open during covid yet not all staff were required to work, some were mandated without explanation as to who and why (salaried vs hourly) it appears as though most employees were not working

NYS DOL has been withholding my unemployment because they won't adjudicate my leaving a position for valid reasons. I left the position because of bad accounting practices and an abusive CFO. I was honest with NYS DOL when I left, and they had adjudicated this favorably once before in August 2020. I had only worked at the position for 3 weeks.

I got another position within a month of leaving that place and worked in that position for nearly 8 months before I was told my position was no longer going to be needed.

I filed for unemployment on 4/17/2022 and have been waiting for them to adjudicate that claim since then. I have had DOL agency staff be abusive with me. They won't provide me any straight answers. I have already started a new position, and moved to Washington, DC for a federal position.

I still want an adjudication on my claim - which they are holding up for the 3 weeks of work while ignoring the fact that the next organization I worked with has already signed off on my claim.

This is clearly a form of harassment of some sort at this point - and I seem to have no recourse or due process that is being provided to me. I need them to either accept or deny my claim so I can at least than make my case to the NYS Unemployment Administrative Board for a hearing. But without a determination, I am simply stuck with no options, and I believe that is their goal.

I filed a claim beginning 5/16/22. On 5/26/22 I received a letter saying my benefit is approved for $123.00 per week. On 6/3 I received a questionnaire (it was mailed on 5/27) asking to verify that I do not receive Workers Compensation. I filled out and faxed the form on 6/6. The questionnaire was supposed to be returned in 7 days from the mailing date of 5/27 but I did not get the letter until 6/3. I faxed it on 6/6 so I missed the 7 day window. One week is unreasonable with the slow mail delivery. I tried to fax on 6/4 Sat.. but your fax machine would not accept it. One week is very unreasonable when I receive it on 6/3. This is very frustrating. I do not receive workers Comp.

Then on 6/8 I received a letter that I was declined because I never submitted a form requesting additional workers Compensation information form 5/19. I never received such a form on 5/19 or any emails/phone calls about this form before I was denied.

I am not receiving Workers Comp and I now need hearing. All of the links on the instruction sheet on how to request a hearing do not work. I finally stumbled upon it on the DOL website after many hours. So filled out the request for hearing and 4 times it gets rejected. I submit it I get an error message and it will not go through. Very frustrating again.

I call constantly and get put on hold or I get the preverbal run around. I did get through 2x only to be disconnected mysteriously.

I cannot make it more clear that I am totally frustrated with this organization. I have been without pay for well over a month now. I have been a taxpayer for 45 years and this is how I am treated?

I am writing my Assembly and Senate representatives to complain as well.

My security license is suspended without reason due to this company not following through with the process thus leaving me unemployable because I have this pending application that hasn’t been pursued .

The employees working at 320 Central Park West

under First Service Property Management Attn Mr Drew Kanter. 622 Third Ave 15th Floor NY NY 10017. We all came down with COVID and were charged from our sick days. When we asked for return of these sick days Mr Kanter refused. When we missed work we were threatened with termination. We want remuneration for the days missed because of having Covid and out sick days returned!

I filed a claim. A week or so later I received a letter that I was declined because I never submitted a form requesting additional information. I never received such a form or any emails/phone calls about this form before I was denied. I filed another claim, received the form, and sent it back. After I certify online every week, it states my claim is pending. I have called also and been told my claim was pending. Today, I am told my claim is not pending, but has been removed. So I need to request a hearing.
Besides the letter declining my claim, I have received no communications from the DOL. I have not gotten one response to my messages sent in the online "inbox". I also waited on hold almost an hour today to speak with a supervisor, who ultimately refused to speak to me.

They refuse to give me a copy of my 1099g for 2020, refuse to allow me to speak to someone, never answer calls.
I also filled for unemployment in June 2021, went through the whole hearing process and they still refuse to pay unemployment benefits.
I've asked to speak to a supervisor through messaging, but am always ignored.
I only want my 1099g for 2020, and the few weeks unemployment owed.

This is my second ongoing complaint against the New York State Department of Labor, EWF. I am unable to respond for their request for more information regarding my application for the NYSDOL EWF. Their phone number [protected] has a faulty auto-bot that does not connect one with a representative, but makes a phone appointment, and then no one calls back and one waits for hours for someone to call back, and they do not. I also had on my application that email is the best contact for me, but they leave a voicemail on my cell phone instead. I feel that the NYS DOL EWF is a scam because even their email does not work: (Your message to [protected]@labor. ny.gov has been blocked. See technical details below for more information. The response from the remote server was:
550 5.4.1 Recipient address rejected: Access denied. AS ([protected]) [DM3GCC02FT009. eop-gcc02. prod. protection. outlook.com]).
I saw on the news about a week ago, that more pandemic funding is going to the South instead of to places like New York because New York does not really distribute the money.

I applied for the NYS Department of Labor EWF funds. They called once (I asked them to contact me by email), and left a voicemail that they needed additional information, the caller was a guy named "Diego." There is no call back number, just the main number with a lot of prompts that does not have a real person answering them. I left a message for a call back during a certain time that their system set up. I never received the phone call--waited three hours for the phone call. I sent a complaint to the NYS Governor's Office, and received a call from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance from a Maria (ID 59088) that I should call her back at [protected] that she had the answers to my email sent to the Governors office, but when I called that number, there was no prompt to talk to Maria, and instead I spoke to a Kim (ID 64891) who refused to transfer me to Maria, and Kim just wanted personal information like my social security number, name and email. I gave her that, and she still did not transfer me to Maria, and Kim acted like an airhead. I feel the IRS is scamming me, and that NYS does not care about people because NYS was concerned that everyone in NYS received their first Fed stimulus, and not the other Fed stimulus money, they just care that they look like nice people, but do not do much for alleviating pandemic issues, except if they can not do much and look like they are doing something for political gain, a continuous cycle of passive-aggressive incompetence. (One reason I need EWF funds is because the IRS did not send me my tax refunds yet for 2019 and 2020, nor the past two stimulus money, as I did mail-in returns, and the IRS has yet to process more than 29 million mail-in tax returns, supposedly due to massive layoffs and the pandemic. I am forced to use my retirement money during the pandemic).

Good afternoon, After working in healthcare through the entire pandemic thus far, I was laid off on 8/6.21.

I filed my unemployment claim on 8/23/21. On 8/24/21,
I received a text saying claim was ready to certify. When I went back online to certify, there are technical issues with logging in so I was unable to certify. The phone system is not accepting my PIN so I am unable to certify via phone. I have called all numbers provided to no avail. You cannot reach anyone and the message tells you to call back. Numbers I have called: [protected], [protected], [protected].

My phone number is [protected]

I was approved and receiving unemployment benefits when the pandemic started except for weeks I had work (like the census). End of November I broke my toe and my computer. I was getting messages from UI but didn't see them as had no access to the internet. They claimed I was out of the country (I wasn't). and stopped my benefits Dec 1, 2020. I called for months without being able to get through the lines as after 15 min of the long menu was instructed to try again and again. I finally spoke to someone in February and she gave me instructions for documents they needed. In the meantime, they send a message that they made a decision as I didn't reply intime (I could not get through the lines!) I certified a letter March 19 asking for a hearing but in the meantime, they said I submitted documents and I don't need a hearing. Since then, every few days I get a conflicting e mail or call - some are very nasty and condecending and honestly sheer abuse of power. I was told 3 weeks ago everything is resolved and all documnets are on file and to check my account for the newxt few weeks which I did there was nothing and here I call again and get nowhere and being again treated like a criminal. I write an e mail (enclosed) and get a reply asking for more documents? it won't help, as that agency has many departments and they are incompetent and I have
not received a p[enny since Dec 1, and pretty much on a verge of emotional and financial collapse. I don't see a point in submitting any more documents as it will just be the same going nowhere... I can't take this anymore and the people there need to be fired. This is a very short version of million calls with all conflicting information, abuse, and inhumane treatment. Is unacceptable to leave me without a penny for 6 months and keep the abuse going in circles and not being resolved. Any problem they had does not justify leaving me without money to survive, It is not their money and I need help; It is almost 6 months and I don't belive that anything will change if I keep giving them more and more documenrts which is a full time job and I can't take this anylonger

I am in desperate need of reaching NYSDOL "Integrity" Department. I call day in and day out for over a month and finally today after TWO HOURS on hold I get thorough to a miserable service provider.
All that was supposed to be asked was when my last days of employment were because i took part time work. She hazed and battered me, refused to let me answer questions, and finally said "I'm gonna let you go" then proceeded to HANG UP on me. I was flabbergasted and overwhelmed to say the least. I've made many calls to Gov Cuomo's office as well and nothing is being done to resolve this issue.

I'm going to kill myself. If anyone is interested in suing I would back that.

I have not received my benefits in one month. I have been told that there is something wrong with the payments and IT dept is working on it. However, it has been one moth with no benefits and no answer or solution to the problem! I need help with this please! It is not happening to everyone as my husbands has been fine. I call every week and get different answers every time. I have asked for a call back or email something from a supervisor but still have heard nothing. I am looking to get paid for all 4 weeks as soon as possible and this matter resolved so it doesn't keep happening and putting me in further debt. Thank you, April Cargill

I have been submitting my certifications every week since august then in September they send me a letter that I need to send them my identity documents which I have sent them several times cause they kept on giving me an excuse that there's an issue with my documents. Then it's hard to speak to an agent at that and it is now november and still no payments and their excuse is now that my certification keep getting rejected so I have to recertify again and this is every week they keep saying this but and I've tried. Speaking to a level 2 specialist and either the call hangs up or the agent is real nasty giving me attitude saying that I have to be patient how much more patience should I have it's 2 months no payment and all they say is that they are still working on it I am behind in my bills because the department of labor associates aren't really doing their job

I have put in a claim in July 2020. I have not received any correspondence or information in regard to my claim. My claim is pending and no one can tell me why. I've tried calling numerous times was put on hold for two hours And they hung up on me. The line is busy and they state that there's no agent to answer my call. On the site it states that my claim is being worked on but nothing has changed.