Assemblyman William Colton (D – Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights) has been swamped with the enormous peoples’ plead from all over the Tri-State Area who lost their hopes in receiving the Unemployment Benefits. Most of the week I have been dealing with the hundreds of phone calls and emails from people who became unemployed due to COVID-19 crisis over two months ago and who are still trying to get their benefits. The DOL Commissioner Roberta Readen and the Governor’s office has been trying very attentively to keep the overwhelmed system moving despite servicing two million claims which are many times higher than it ever faced before.

"I am tirelessly continuing to work on numerous constituents claims who are still trying to get their unemployment benefits. My great staff is working from home while the district office has been temporarily closed due to the Governor's PAUSE order. My staff members are overwhelmed by returning an enormous number of calls of constituents, including many seeking to get their unemployment benefits. The unemployment problem I submit on a special DOL link to call attention to long-delayed priority cases. My office is getting hundreds of emails which are being forwarded by a hardworking staff member working from home to me for action, as well as hundreds of phone messages on the office answering machine which is being forwarded by another hardworking staff member, struggling to keep the machine from being overfilled. Meanwhile, I have been working with the Governor’s office and with the Department of Labor to expedite a terrible logjam in processing claims stemming from the incredible number of claims due to the pandemic crises. This terrible problem will probably continue to take a great deal of my time through the coming weeks as so many people are desperate to get benefit monies to support their families," Colton stated.

"The Governor has hired many additional DOL staff and even borrowed state employees from other state agencies to unravel the overwhelmed system. I am pleased that Governor has implemented a new computer system, now put into effect, to deal with the unprecedented volume. Under the new procedure, emails or text messages will be sent confirming the application was received and is being processed and when it is determined the application is either complete or needs additional documents. Finally, an email, text message, or letter will be sent when the benefit is approved. People can choose to be paid by direct deposit or by a Key Bank debit card. Claimants can change that choice at any time during the process by filing a form. A Docu-Sign portal is on the official DOL website to submit documents required, as a better alternative to fax. You can reach my office to get help on this or any other issues by calling 718-236-1598 and leaving a brief and a clear message with your phone number and name or by emailing me at coltonw@nyassembly.gov," Colton stated.