NEW YORK CITY— More than 100,000 New Yorkers receiving unemployment benefits could see their payments delayed this fall while the state Labor Department shuts down its unemployment system for a major overhaul.
The department plans to take its online unemployment portal offline at 5 p.m. Nov. 2 for nine to 12 days. During the shutdown, New Yorkers will not be able to apply for unemployment, certify for weekly benefits or renew their claims online or by phone.
The unemployment hotline also will be unavailable.
Anyone who completes their weekly certification by the Nov. 2 deadline should receive the missed payment retroactively after the new system launches in mid-November, Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon said.
People who miss the 5 p.m. deadline could miss two payments instead of one.
New Yorkers receiving unemployment benefits must continue meeting the state's job-search requirements while the system is offline.
That generally means applying for at least three jobs each week.
Claimants should keep records of their applications and other required job-search activities and submit the documentation once the system returns.
The Labor Department will replace its unemployment system, which Reardon said relies on a roughly 50-year-old process.
The state began seeking proposals for a new system in 2017 and awarded a contract to Tata Consultancy Services in 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic then disrupted the project as unemployment claims surged to unprecedented levels.
Calls to the unemployment hotline jumped 2,700 percent during the first weeks of the pandemic, and some New Yorkers waited months for their first payments.
The Labor Department introduced several upgrades in 2022, including a redesigned website, electronic signatures for weekly certifications and an online chatbot for common questions.
The new portal will work on smartphones and make it easier to upload documents needed for an unemployment claim.
The current system can allow applicants to complete most of an application before telling them they are missing documents.
The new system will identify missing information earlier, allowing applicants to fix problems before submitting their claims.
The Labor Department expects the change to reduce calls to its hotline, where questions about missing documents are a major source of traffic.
New Yorkers also will be able to track the status of their claims and payments in real time.
"Kind of like the Domino's pizza tracker," Reardon told the City Reporter.
The Labor Department expects the new unemployment system to come back online in mid-November, after the nine- to 12-day shutdown.
The agency plans to notify customers when the system is available again.
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