NY unemployment system shuts down for upgrade: How long will it last?

At 5 o'clock, the state officially pulled the plug on its decades-old unemployment insurance system. The shutdown could delay your next check, but state officials insist you won't lose any money. The Department of Labor expects payments to resume as soon as the system upgrade wraps up. Once the new platform launches, claimants must log on and backdate their weekly certifications. In the meantime, you won't have access to any digital services. The state has cut off all digital access for the next 9 to 12 days. That means you can't file new claims, certify weekly benefits, or view your account. Recipients are being told to continue logging their required three job searches each week on paper. Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon, meanwhile, tells me this is all happening so that the department can migrate over 5 billion business records and overhaul a 50-year-old system. This is a new system. It's cloud-based. Great news for our customers. You can do all of your business, your certification, start a new application, send us documents right from your smartphone, which you could never do before. She says the update will modernize the experience. For now, if you're a current customer, the deadline to file a claim or certify just passed at 5 p.m. The department will let you know when it's back online. And also of note, you guys, the career centers will not be open during this time, but you can access those services.