New York Department of Labor - Unemployment Customer Service

Calling this number offers some assistance if you're not an existing user of the New York Department of Labor's unemployment benefits, but it's limited. When you call, the system offers an automated helpline, but oddly, it's only available during regular business hours. If you call outside of business hours, you're instead told to call back Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern.

If you do call during regular business hours, you're taken to an automated menu and asked to speak about the issue that you need assistance with. When I dialed, I asked how I could file a claim in New York. The system told me I could file a claim online or over the phone and offered me the website I could use to get a claim started.

The system further told me that I could file a claim completely over the phone using the automated system, but if I needed to file a claim that I had started online, I would need to speak to an agent. It then asked if I had any further questions, and I asked how many weeks were available to claim in New York.

The system didn't quite understand my question and launched into an explanation that I could not claim unemployment benefits if I earned more than $504 in a week or worked more than 30 hours in a week. It also provided me with a link where I could look at partial unemployment benefits. I tried to ask the same question again, but the system once again did not understand.

At that point, I asked to speak to a customer representative to get my question answered. The system said it could redirect me to an agent, but it would have to authenticate me first. As this involved providing my Social Security number, I instead hung up at this point.

Overall, I thought there were some positives to calling this number. The presence of an automated system to answer questions is a good thing, and it seems to be at least half-decent at providing full and complete answers. However, I didn't understand why the system was only available during regular business hours, as it's an automated system that shouldn't need to work on a schedule. It would have made more sense had the system been set up to take calls at night without forwarding them to a live person after hours.

I also wasn't really impressed by the system's lack of understanding of some fairly basic principles. Knowing how many weeks you can claim unemployment is something that anyone working in this government branch should understand, and an automated system should expect that question. I do like how you can always ask to speak to someone when needed. Were I a genuine New York resident who needed assistance, I'd be willing to use this number.