ALBANY, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — For the past three weeks, we’ve told you about the struggle New Yorkers face in filing a claim for unemployment insurance with the New York State Labor Department.
Website crashes, sluggish internet responses, constantly busy phone lines, or calls that drop out in the middle of the application process are some of the complaints we’ve had from viewers who desperately need unemployment benefits after losing their jobs in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo was asked by reporters at his daily news briefing in Albany about the continued logjam as the Labor Department handles an unprecedented number of online and phone call applications.
Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to the Governor, told reporters, “We have now partnered with Google and we’ll be releasing a new interface by the middle of this week.”
DeRosa, who is one of Cuomo’s top aids, did not elaborate.
She again asked for patients pointing out that on the busiest day for applications during the Great Recession, the department had 13,000 requests for unemployment in one day. She said two days ago, the department received six times that number.
We asked the Labor Department to elaborate on the Google partnership and we were told an announcement was coming soon.
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