Does Anyone Answer New York’s Unemployment Hotline?

NEW YORK FOCUS—One week in June, only a third of the people who called the Labor Department’s unemployment help line reached a real person.

Last December, Kyra Assibey-Bonsu realized that her stream of work as a freelance audio producer was “puttering out.” She went to file for unemployment with the state, only to find that she was signing up for a new job: trying to reach the agency that was supposed to help her access the benefit.

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Thousands of New Yorkers a week apply for unemployment benefits through the state Department of Labor, which assesses eligibility and makes payments. For many people, it’s a smooth process that can be completed online. But that’s not always the case.

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About one in six people who call Assemblymember Grace Lee’s office, in Lower Manhattan, are struggling to get unemployment benefits. Lee recently had a constituent who needed to contact the Labor Department to verify their ID, but couldn’t get anyone on the phone, Lee told New York Focus. Sometimes, she said, constituents are told by the department that they need to complete an interview to be approved for benefits, but can’t reach anyone to do it.

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Beyond the one-week snapshot the department provided, it’s difficult to know just how often New Yorkers are reaching a real person through the unemployment phone line. In January, the department denied a public records request from New York Focus requesting call logs for the phone number that the agency advertises to people who need help filing claims.

On July 7, after the agency denied an appeal, New York Focus brought an Article 78 lawsuit against the agency, arguing that the records must be disclosed under the law. The case is pending.

“This lawsuit is about making sure New Yorkers can keep tabs on what the Department of Labor is doing and whether it is serving the public as it should,” said Michael Linhorst, the attorney at Cornell Law School’s First Amendment Clinic who filed the suit. “The department appears to be trying to misapply an unrelated confidentiality law to keep the records hidden.”

 

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