There have been widespread reports that the state's unemployment system is completely overloaded by the number of people trying to file claims, either by phone or online, forcing long wait times and causing considerable upset and frustration.
The Cuomo administration is well aware of the problem, and is working hard to address it, according to Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor.
During the governor's daily Red Room briefing earlier today, DeRosa said the said is partnering with Google and will release a new "interface" for the state Labor Department website sometime in the middle of this week.
In addition, the DOL has added a lot of servers - going from seven to 50, according to DeRosa, plus 300 more people have been hired to bolster the 700 who were already manning the phone lines.
"Just so everyone understands, at the peak of the 2008 crisis, the single largest day of claims was 13,000 in one day," DeRosa said. "We had six times that two days ago. So this volume is something we’ve never experienced before."
"It’s frustrating and it's horrible and it's unacceptable, but we just ask that people remain patient, we are working on it. We are trying to do everything we can to attack this issue, and you will get your benefits going back to the date of your unemployment, even if there’s a lag in being able to get signed up for the benefits."