2020

Jan 9

WHO Announces Mysterious Coronavirus-related Pneumonia in Wuhan, China

Jan 21

CDC Confirms First U.S. Coronavirus Case

Jan 27

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance

Jan 31

WHO Issues Global Health Emergency

Feb

New York State’s unemployment rate is 3.9%

Feb 2

Global Air Travel is Restricted

Feb 3

U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency

Mar 7

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo issued Executive Order 202, declaring a state emergency in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency

Mar 11

WHO Declares COVID-19 A Pandemic

Mar 13

An executive order is announced which waives the seven-day waiting period for UI claims — the first order that would impact NYS DOL

Mar 18

HR 6201; PL 116-127.  Among other things, this is the federal law that incentivized states to adopt flexibilities to loosen-up UI eligibility standards.

Mar 18

Across NYS, schools and daycares closed, forcing parents to make tough choices (leaving the workforce to care for children or paying for childcare)

Mar 22

100% Closure of Non-Essential Businesses Statewide.

Mar 27

Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) created three brand new unemployment programs: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC).

Mar 28

  • In a single month, Initial Claims increased from 14,000 to 366,000 (2500% increase).  
  • For calendar year 2020 there were 6.8 million in Initial claims . 4.4 million of the Initial Claims were for the NYS Traditional UI.

Apr 5

Peak volume in a single day – 2,007,041 inbound calls.

A temporary program that provided an extra $600 weekly payment to anyone who received UI, PUA, or PEUC during Phase I and an extra $300 weekly payment to anyone who received UI, PUA, PEUC, or EB. FPUC.

Apr 6

  • Per federal guidelines payments for PUA program flowed to individuals who were self-employed, independent contractors, gig workers, and more.
  • Self-attestation open to fraud.

Apr 8

  • 640 staff members from across the agency were reassigned to better serve customer needs.
  • At the height of the pandemic, NYS DOL had 3,250 contracted staff members helping with answering phones and processing claims. 
  • At one point, 100% of the agency was performing UI work.

Apr 11

For the week ending 4/11/20 initial claims peak at 398,000.

Apr 16

DOL began to see a significant downturn in NYS average private sector employment from 7,993,440 in 2020 Q1 to 6,489,114 in 2020 Q2.

May

New York State’s unemployment rate is 16.5%

NYSDOL rolls out GovDelivery, an email and SMS platform to keep UI customers informed

NYSDOL introduces forward-facing virtual assistant, the first iteration of Perkins, the UI bot

May 1

The number of unemployed reached its peak in May 2020 and was 1,566,800; up from 385,500 in February 2020. Unemployment Rate peaks at 16.5%.

Jun

New York State reopening commences in phases

Jun 1

  • DOL began utilizing Chatbots to provide immediate responses to frequently asked questions on the website and in Facebook Messenger.
  • By summer of 2021, Perkins speaks 9 languages, answers FAQs, and can also manage processes that were originally only possible by speaking to an agent.

Jul 5

A federal program to continue providing weekly benefits to those who had already exhausted UI and PEUC benefits. This program gave claimants an additional 20 weeks of benefits.

Sep

NYSDOL launches Virtual Career Fairs

Sep 1

The federal government approved NYS DOL for 6 weeks of LWA, a temporary program that provided an extra $300 a week in funds to qualified individuals who received UI, PUA, PEUC, or EB from August 1, 2020, to September 5, 2020.

Nov

DOL Partners with Coursera

New York State schools closed statewide, gatherings again limited to 10 people 

Dec

Indoor Dining Again Suspended in New York State

New York administered the vaccine first to health-care workers, and then to nursing-home residents

The Continued Assistance Act (CAA) is signed into law by then President Trump, which extends and changes certain federal benefit programs.

2021

Jan 3

An additional federal benefit of $100 per week if you: collect regular unemployment insurance (UI), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), or extended benefits (EB); and earned $5,000 or more a year in net earnings from self-employment. 

Jun 24

  • Efforts shift to helping New Yorkers Get Back to Work 
  • NYS DOL launch its Back to Work campaign, a multi-media blitz featuring Public Service Announcements for television, radio, social media, and print materials including bus wraps, subway, and bus stop signage.

Feb

NYSDOL begins applying identity verification on claims through ID.me to prevent fraud

NYSDOL rolls out new reapplication process and campaign

Mar

NYSDOL launches Virtual Workshops for job seekers

American Rescue Plan (ARP) signed into law by President Biden, which extends certain federal benefit programs

Jun

NYSDOL launches Virtual Career Center

New York State ends COVID-19 State Disaster Emergency

Jul

NYSDOL begins Back to Work PSA campaign

Aug

NYSDOL opens the historic Excluded Workers Fund just three months after program is signed into law

NYSDOL rolls out Phase II of Perkins, the UI virtual assistant, which would come to speak 13 languages

Sep

Expiration of federal pandemic programs

Nov

Governor Kathy Hochul announces Tourism Workers Fund, a one-time payment for hardest-his tourism workers

2022

April

NYSDOL introduces its federal overpayment waiver process

Aug

Governor Hochul commissions report on the pandemic’s impact on women in the workplace and the gender wage gap.

Sep

NYSDOL expands Virtual Career Center to all New Yorkers

NYSDOL becomes first state in the country to stand-up Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) on its UI system.

Dec

New York State’s unemployment rate is 4.3%

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