State unemployment system to get massive upgrades

The state’s ancient unemployment insurance system, long criticized for moving at a snail’s pace and its antiquated interface, is set to receive its first major overhaul in 50 years. 

The state Department of Labor on Monday announced that starting Nov. 2 at 5 p.m., the state’s unemployment insurance system will be down for nine to 12 days for a top-to-bottom update that will bring it into the 21st century. While it’s down, New Yorkers won’t be able to file new claims or certify weekly benefits, and the entire system will be unavailable. 

That means unemployed New Yorkers will also see a delay in receiving weekly benefits, but Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon said the state will fulfill all back payments.

“We have done meticulous planning and an incredible amount of testing (and will continue) all the way through up to the Nov. 2 date,” Reardon told City & State. “We are very confident in this machine. … The thing that our customers need to know (is) that they will not lose benefits.”

The November overhaul is the culmination of a decade-long, $180 million project. The initial request for proposals went out in 2017, under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and the state awarded a contract to Tata Consultancy Services for $57 million in 2019, though costs have increased since then. But Reardon said the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays in the process. The pandemic simultaneously exposed the extent of the unemployment insurance system’s problems as it was extensively strained during that time. The negative attention resulted in some minor updates and improvements, but nothing that compares to what the state is about to embark on. 

Reardon called the state’s new system “bespoke.” She added that no other state has made upgrades of this magnitude. The changes include moving billions of files and switching over from a long-obsolete coding language in one single move. “This is built just for the state of New York, and it is the largest upgrade of an unemployment insurance system in the United States to date,” Reardon said. “We are very proud of it. It is massive, and it is replacing a very old, over 50-year-old, system that still uses a key punch and still requires businesses to use a fax.”

Two of the most significant upgrades, according to Reardon, will be the ability to interact with the unemployment insurance system on your smartphone and the addition of real-time claims status tracking. “The claim status is the No. 2 reason people call us,” Reardon said. “What we’re really trying to do is reduce the need to actually call us, so that you can have a seamless operation.”

The state Department of Labor has come under plenty of scrutiny for its unemployment insurance system, so there’s a lot of pressure for the upgrade to go smoothly. Reardon expressed confidence that the rollout will go off without a hitch – but it’s not just New Yorkers who will be keeping an eye on the massive endeavor. 

“It’s complex, it’s expensive, it’s not the sexiest thing to tell taxpayers that you’re doing – but it is such a transformation,” Reardon said. “We’ve been (in) very close contact with a lot of the states, and they’re anxious to see how this works, because they want to do it.”