Albany, NY – The New York State Department of Labor has paid out $9.2 billion in unemployment insurance benefits to two million New Yorkers.
Melissa DeRosa, Assistant to Governor Cuomo said that while most applications have been processed, there are 23,000 claimants that haven’t been processed due to duplicate applications or missing information. In addition, several thousand forms are being held up for possible fraud.
“The majority of the people have been cleared from the backlog,” said DeRosa. “We’re getting very, very close. So, for the people that are outstanding that is now the exception, not the rule, and DOL is working round the clock to address those issues.”
According to Commissioner Roberta Reardon,1.2 million applications filed between March 2 and April 22 have been completed and processed. There are still thousands that are being held up for fraud investigation or additional information is needed. There are about 50,000 applications during that time period that were marked ineligible for traditional unemployment insurance, but those people could qualify for pandemic unemployment insurance — the new COVID-19 federal program.
Thousand of extra workers were hired to clear the backlog and assist at call centers. In addition, Google provided technical assistance with New York State’s website.
