NY Unemployment seems to have discontinued live representatives

October 27, 2023 5:14 AM

I have tried to call every single day for weeks, at every time, to get through to an actual representative. It always takes my info and then pretends to connect me, and then immediately disconnects saying the call volume is too high. I have Autism and working within bureaucracy is already my biggest challenge. I have two complicated questions that require human help. Also, I want to know if anyone is doing an investigation into this, and who I would contact to look into it further.

I've started dialing at 7:59am (today as well, as they open at 8am), in the late afternoon, mid-afternoon, late-afternoon, every possible time. Something fishy is definitely going on, and this can't be right.

Any advice is welcome.

posted by asimplemouse to Law & Government (6 answers total)

Best answer: Call your state assembly(wo)man or state senator district office and ask for them to help you get an appointment. They love that kind of constituent service.
posted by MattD at 6:01 AM on October 27, 2023 [18 favorites]

Seconding MattD's suggestion to call your state assembly representative and ask for their help. I had a similarly frustrating problem with NY State Tax two years ago - I spent about a month trying to call and ask for clarification about the status of my NY State tax return, but either couldn't get a person on the phone or couldn't get a response to email inquiries. When I finally called my state assembly representative, THEY called the NY tax office for me, and a live human person from the NY State tax office called me back only one hour later to hear me out. And then two hours after that my problem was fixed.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:40 AM on October 27, 2023

You might try calling the hearing office for the area you're in. Their clerks may at least be able to tell you whether your sense that the system you're calling into has been fully automated is correct. If it has, it's probably not a secret.

There's also a Claimant Advocate Office -- seems like the equivalent of an ombudsman for the UI program.

The Claimant Advocate Office operates within the Department of Labor's Unemployment Insurance Division, separate from the Telephone Claims Center (TCC).
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:41 AM on October 27, 2023

I recently had to call and was told by my counselor and a friend who works in the Buffalo office that the only way to get through is to go to the office and use their dedicated phone line to the Albany office. I was able to solve my problem via the online message portal in the end, though I had to wait to receive a letter by mail, so I didn’t have to, but it seemed to be the only way. Good luck!
posted by Riverine at 7:23 AM on October 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Guys, the assemblywoman idea worked instantly. I found out her office was a few blocks from my house and walked right over. Someone in the office went so far above and beyond to help me it brought me to tears. Things are on their way to being sorted out. I would never in a million years have thought of this. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
posted by asimplemouse at 8:30 AM on October 27, 2023 [97 favorites]

Constituent services is an amazing bureaucratic hack in the U.S. I've seen it work wonders and I know elected officials and their staff really feel it is a core part of their public service responsibilities.
posted by Glomar response at 4:49 PM on October 27, 2023 [1 favorite]