Unemployment system upgrade set to begin next week; System will be offline for several days

ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York State Department of Labor is reminding people that the unemployment system will temporarily go offline starting Monday, Nov. 2, as it undergoes upgrades. The deadline to file a claim before the system goes offline is 5 p.m. on Nov. 2. After that, all online and phone-based services will be unavailable for the next 9 to 12 days. You can learn how to file a claim here. As News10NBC has covered, the state is upgrading the system to make it more efficient and secure after it nearly collapsed during the height of the pandemic. For the last six years, News10NBC s Jennifer Lewke has been exposing major issues with the claims process, customer service, data security, and the antiquated processing system that left state taxpayers vulnerable to fraud. What else will be impacted during the upgrades? During the upgrade period, people will also not be able to certify for weekly benefits or access or update account information. However, the upgrades will not