ADVISORY: New York State Department of Labor Implements a Filing System and Extends Hours to Address the Influx of Unemployment Claims and Make Process More Efficient for Claimants

Providing Unemployment Insurance benefits is DOL’s number one priority, and everyone who is entitled to UI benefits will receive them in a timely manner.  

To that end, we are implementing a new more efficient filing system based on the first letter of the applicant's last name (alphabetical order). Here is the step-by-step process for filing:

A  - F : Monday
G – N : Tuesday
O – Z : Wednesday
Missed your day: Thursday and Friday

Filing later in the week will not delay payments or affect the date of an individual’s claim, since all claims are effective on the Monday of the week in which they are filed.

We are also extending telephone filing hours as follows:
Monday through Thursday, 8 am to 7:30 pm. *
Friday, 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. *
Saturday, 7:30 am to 8:00 pm. *

*UPDATE: As of 6/10/2021, the Telephone Claims Center hours are Monday through Friday, 8 am to 6 pm.*

Here is a step-by-step process to file a claim online.

We are experiencing an unprecedented increase in the volume of calls and web traffic for Unemployment Insurance claims. This massive surge created intermittent interruptions in service. Our team is continuing to fix the problem as we monitor the situation around the clock.

By Noon today, we received more than 21,000 calls - compared to the 2K in total last Tuesday, and 110K website visits, compared to 42K last Tuesday.

DOL is adding staff and will be expanding hours to help address the rapid influx.

Our dedicated staff are working as hard as we can to ensure that all benefits are paid, and we will continue to do so. We appreciate the public’s patience.