BUFFALO, N.Y. — With hundreds of you contacting us about the problems you're having with unemployment benefits, we wanted to know what state lawmakers are doing to hold the New York State Department of Labor accountable.
2 On Your Side talked with a Republican and a Democrat on Wednesday about the issues people are having with the unemployment system and how the state's handled everything.
"The reality is, here we are two months into this pandemic, and we have still a large volume of New Yorkers who are not getting the benefits that they are rightly owed, and that's a problem. And there doesn't seem to me to be, I can't get a clear answer as to where the problem is specifically, if it's a technology issue, if it is a we don't have the staffing issue. And, it's well within the state's control," State Senator Rob Ortt said.
Added Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes: "I do trust, based on my conversation with the commissioner and with our staff, that they're doing the very best that they can. No one is intentionally trying to hold anybody up. No one is intentionally not getting resources that they are entitled to. And so, we're doing our due diligence to help them follow through with it, and we're just hoping that the system pulls through."
Added Ortt: "I think there needs to be an independent legislative investigation into this because even when this passes we need to understand what went wrong. Should something like this come up again, right, what is the problem? Why are we not able to handle this after eight weeks? You know, we need to learn from these things. And, there needs to be accountability, whether it's the Department of Labor Commissioner, or whoever, we need to understand where this went wrong, and how we could fix it, not only in the short term, but in the long term."
Added Peoples-Stokes: "I don't think this is a time for partisan politics. And, I think what honestly, this is what gets us into this problem is because you always want to look for something wrong, instead of focusing on what's right and trying to get more of that. And so, the Senator is perfect with this as well, right, he is a duly elected to call for an investigation. I would rather work with the people who are responsible for getting it done and offer help to them to do it. And, I think that that's a better approach."
If you need help appealing a denied unemployment claim, you can get help from the NYS Bar Association.
