The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development review: Unable to file due to phone hang ups, etc 124

I have just jumped on this circle of frustration. I got a notice telling me to claim on line and when I do I am informed that I must call
. So I did. The 1st time I waited for 40 minutes on hold then was dropped. I have tried 5 more times since and each time I am eventually told by the auto answer that the call volume is too high and call back later.

After reading the posts here I am sure that I will never get through. Guess my next step is to go to an office where I will waste my day and get no results. Maybe I'll be told to call the office. I have been working for close to 45 years and this is the 1st time I have ever tried to file.
It was easy for the State to take my money why is it so hard to take advantage of what I have been contributing to all these years?

I really don't get it. They act like they worked for your money. Just give me the right answer in that's it. I was denied unemployment sent for a appeal, got it n they said I lose so I appeal it again, Haven't heard from them since. I have five kids now depending on the tsystem until £ get my money that is owed to me.

If you cant get anyone on the phone, get in the car, drive down there, and speak to a live person. And don't forget to ask them their name.

I WENT TO UNEMPLOYMENT YESTERDAY TO GET MY ACCOUNT STRAIGHTENED OUT. THEY ASKED ME WHEN I LAST WORKED. I TOLD THE GIRL IT WAS THIS PAST SATURDAY. I TOLD HER I WORKED A FULL WEEK LAST WEEK. SHE TOLD ME THAT I NEEDED TO CALL UNEMPLOYMENT OVER THE TELEPHONE AND PUT IN MY HOURS. I TOLD HER AGAIN THAT I WORKED A FULL WEEK LAST WEEK, IT'S THIS WEEK THAT I NEED TO REOPEN MY CLAIM FOR. SHE SAID OKAY GO ON THE PHONE. I GO ON THE PHONE AND SHE GETS ON THE PHONE ON HER EXTENSION. SHE TELLS ME TO PUT IN THE ANSWER 2, NO, THAT I HADN'T WORKED THE PRIOR WEEK. I SHOOK MY HEAD AND SAID BUT I DID. SHE SAID I WAS CONFUSED ABOUT THE FORM AND JUST TO PUT IN NO. I TOLD HER AGAIN, I'M NOT CONFUSED, I WORKED LAST WEEK, A FULL WEEK. SHE TOLD ME TO ANSWER NO ANYWAY. NOW I'M GOING TO GET IN TROUBLE BECAUSE I WORKED A FULL WEEK LAST WEEK AND SHE TOLD ME TO PUT IN NO THAT I DIDN'T. I FELT LIKE SHAKING HER HEAD TO SEE IF THERE WAS SOME TYPE OF BRAIN RATTLING AROUND IN THERE. I TOLD HER AGAIN, WHEN I GOT OFF THE PHONE THAT THAT WAS WRONG, BECAUSE I DID WORK LAST WEEK. SHE TOLD ME I WAS CONFUSED ABOUT THE CLAIM AND TOLD ME TO BE ON MY WAY AND I'LL BE GETTING A CHECK ON FRIDAY. I AM ALREADY GETTING A PAYCHECK FROM MY JOB ON FRIDAY. NOW THINGS ARE SCREWED UP WORSE THAN EVER. OH, AND CALLING...I MISSED A HALF A DAY FROM WORK FOR TRYING TO CALL IN AND WHEN I FINALLY GOT THROUGH TO SOMEONE THEY HUNG UP ON ME HALF WAY THROUGH THE CALL. EVERY TIME I TRIED TO CALL FROM WORK (NEEDED TO CLAIM A PARTIAL), THEY WOULD TELL ME I HAD AT LEAST A ONE TO TWO HOUR WAIT. THEN I GET CHASTISED FOR NOT REPORTING MY TIME OUT WHEN I GET TO THE UNEMPLOYMENT OFFICE. I TRIED TO EXPLAIN BUT THEY CUT ME RIGHT OFF AND TRY TO MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE SOME KIND OF IDIOT. I DON'T WANT TO JUST COMPLAIN, I WANT TO REPORT THIS!

does any -body works at newton? AFTER 5 VISITS 12-24-14, 12-26-14...12-31-14...01-01-15 the security guard told me the person will not be back till the end of jan.2015! no-one is at the phones either he said. I WAS THERE THE SECOND WEEK OF JAN. ALSO BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER THE DATE.THE COMPUTER KEEPS SHUTTING ME DOWN! I realise its the holiday season but does it extend to the end of JAN.? DO I HAVE TO TAKE A DAY OFF FROM WORK TO FILE A PARTIAL CLAIM?

The Newton local office is closed- Dont bother going there- @gary whitte ... as of right now, ys the system is overloaded with callers- if you want to open a claim you have to hold until you speak to an agent and make sure you tell them you have been calling for the prior 2 or 3 weeks- they will back the claim and pay you up to date--- if your working part time, make sure you have your hours and earnings for each of the weeks you want to claim - if you worked over 32 hours in one week, they wont pay you anything- or if you grossed over your partial- Also, if you were paid holiday or vaction pay from your employer, make sure you have those figures as well- good luck ...

I live in California and was laid off on 12/19/14 from a company in NJ that I worked remotely for. I was provided the information for filing with the state and attempted to start my claim online. Found out that since my entire job history over the preceding 18 months wasn't exclusively in NJ, I would have to call in my claim. It is now the 19th of January and I've logged over 500 calls to the NJ unployment office (I have all 4 phone numbers and utilized them all) and have not gotten any further than I was a month ago. I have no ability to physically visit the office in person, and no way to get a phone call answered. I have spent countless hours waiting through the preliminary calls only to be hung up on, with NO option to have my call returned, by the way, either. I've even sent an email, to which I have received no response. It doesn't matter if I call at 5:30am PST on the dot or any other time of day...I'm getting nowhere. WHAT DO I DO?

Claim with NJ dated 11.09.14 today is Sunday 1.25.15 and I still can't do my claim online. I did all that was requested faxed all my documents and accepted all my phone calls and when I login online it still tells me 000 Claim not payable. For the past two weeks the Elizabeth office has been closed, I can't get through when I call and I don't know what to do

My husband has to call for his benefits and he's been calling while at work cause he's back to claim a week off and they have him on hold for 2-3 hrs then hang up. He's been trying to call for 2 months. This is ###!

I have been trying to get through to file a claim since the first week of January, 2015. That was six weeks ago and I've still not been able to connect to a live person. I've had several phone calls where I've been placed on hold for hours before being disconnected. At this point I'm beginning to believe the state of NJ does not want people to collect UI and is doing all it can to discourage those eligible.

cant get through to nj unemployment waited today 4 + hours and only to be told that I lost money cuz I didn't file soon enough how can I file when cant get through this is a joke so im out money cuz they wont answer phone and the 4 hour wait today your going to tell me that there was that many people on the phone waiting right what a joke
very mad steve

I'm schueduled for a phone interview today.{ March 5, 2015} but due to our illustrious {LOL} Governor, the offices are closed because of snow! It IS FRUSTRATING that us, as tax payers that have unfortunately fallen on hard times due to the shoddy way our governments run our states and country, have to basically beg for what's ours. I expect the usual unemployment runaround as you all on this site have and had been experiencing. I thought we were a democracy but by dealing with the idiots at unemployment it must be nazism! NO WONDER WE"RE CALLED NEW GERMANY! It's my money and I want now! They act like they're taking it out of THEIR pockets! It's no wonder people commit crimes out of frustratation! I want to be behind the desk and have them come in unemployed and give them a taste of what they give us! IT"S A BUNCH OF B*LL[censored]!

If everyone is having the same problem with the phone system why doesn't it get corrected.really is it that hard all these people get treated horrible yet if it was someone from another country gee we make sure they get help we find there language and go the nine yards one question I got was if you don't have a phone press 2 come on really I'm calling on what I believe a phone.all day on the phone but nothing is that really fair or is it a way to hurt us.

ME TRIED CALLING NJ UNEMPLOYMENT FOR WEEKS, BUT NONE NO ONE PICK UP PHONE OTHER SIDE HANG UP OR I GET DISCONNECTED WHEN IT IS TIME FOR ME TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE OR WITH AUTO MESSAGE TOO BUSY. DO THESE PEOPLE EXPECT ME TO BE ON PHONE ALL THE TIME: THIS IS INSANE = NOT SANE = CRAZY. THEN, WHY NOT REPLACE THESE LAZY INCOMPETENT WORKERS WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OR ROBOTS. AND ?ALSO SAME WITH ALL OTHER GOVERNMENT WORKERS, REPLACE THM WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENT ROBOTS. SAME WITH TEACHERS, ALMOST ALL ARE INCOMPETENT, INCLUDING COMPANY BOSSES AND MANAGERS, REPLACE ALL OF THESE ###S WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ROBOTS, SINCE ALL IN AUTHORITY ARE INCOMPETENT: CAN I HAVE THEIR JOB ? THEY NOT INTERESTED IN THEIR JOB: WASTING MY TIME ! ALL THE IDIOTS HAVE TAKEN OVER SOCIETY !

I don't think anyone reads these complaints as no one answers the phone at any office EVER. They are quick however to send a bill of you owing them money for guess what; their own mistakes. I've been trying to call every day and week for almost 2 months to no avail to fix their disaster on My name, to be able to file and not get sent to Collections over their inability to help the citizens that are calling. It begs the question, does the unemployment office actually employ people?!?!?! Can ANYONE, help?!

I went to file my bi-weekly benefits and the NJ unemployment site froze up. When I went back on the site I was told I had to call in - That was over a month ago. I cannot get through. I went to the Toms River unemployment office and was told the wait was three hours just to use their phones and they are no longer a reemployment center. A lawsuit should be filed against Chris Christie. He is a corrupt- big- mouthed- bully. We are homeowners in Seaside Heights. We lost everything during hurricane Sandy and never received a dime in aid.

My boyfriend is 24 yrs old and has been working since he was 14. He has never filed for unemployment. The last job that he had did not pay him for a month and everytime he Asked they said that he would get paid the following Friday. He has worked for that company for 5 years so he had a little patience. After the 4th week he was quit and went to unemployment. It's been 3 months since he got approved and only has gotten paid 3xs. He tries to get a job and they didn't pay him what they promised so as soon as unemployment saw they he got paid the one time $123 for two weeks for a family of 4 they tried to cancel it saying that he didn't tell them he was getting paid. The man was really rude and stated that it was not his problem and that now he is gonna have to wait two weeks to reclaim again. It has been a month now and the last time they called for a "meeting" to make sure he is eligible again he picked up n they hung up. I can not believe that this goes on and they get away with it. When he called the next day and told the lady on the phone what happened. Her response was, "that's not my problem and you will have to wait 3 more was for another meeting." This makes me so angry not only for the unprofessional obvious but also because 1 it is your money you are trying to claim, money that you have worked for all your life and have them taken off by taxes for situations like this and they give u a hard time. 2 because they punished him for trying to get a job because unemployment was not paying home and kept giving him the run around. I really hope that someone with higher authority reads all these complaints and does something about this. I pray to God for that everytime. How is it that you have to basically fight to get your own money back while you look for a job! This is insane.

@npa87 ... Firstly, whenever a person quits a job for any reason at all, the claim they open is pended until they talk to an examiner, they'll ask why he quit the job, if its a compelling reason he will be back paid all the weeks. However, If it is determined that the reason he quit wasn't good enough, his claim will stay pended and you can appeal. Secondly, Unemployment is based off of the 1st four qtr's of the last 18 months and its ONLY 60% of those wages, so if the weekly benefit rate was $123, that means he was only grossing $200 per week at that job, which is ALSO not enough to take care of a family of four. #3 ... its not "your money" its an insurance, just like car insurance- You pay it and if you don't abide by the laws to collect it, you can get turned down. I hope what I explained helps...

I've been calling NJ unemployment for days now trying to open a claim... When I do get through I'm on "hold" waiting for at least an hour and a half.. Then all of a sudden the phone hangs up.. And it's not me hanging up. I go through this very same scenario every time I file a claim. It's as if it's a game to theses people working there, instead of answering the calls on hold, These low life's hang up... Maybe theses SOB's need to lose their jobs so they can experience the BS. Please excuse my language... But I'm pissed and have no recourse.

My husband recently was recently laid off... He spent several hours a day for well over a week on hold trying to file a claim... He was disconnected several times and was on hold for at least two hours at a time.. He drove to the Pleasantville office which is 1 hour away only to be told nobody could help and told him he needs call yo file his claim.He was extremely frustrated and finally called our State repress notice and finally got some assistance. This system is broken and needs to be fixed immediately!

I can't get thru to a human at all on the phone to file. I decided to go to the Trenton office and they told my to go to a phone in their office to file. I got the SAME EXACT thing I got at home "due to the high call volume please call back... CLICK". Talked to the "secretary" and she proceeded to say in a non-polite loud way "what do you expect? You're here at 1pm and we close at 4:30".
They might as well lock the door and say "we can't handle our jobs. Come back later, much later".

I've had the same negative experiences as many of the other people posting here. I can't file online because I'm a resident of NY who's former employer relocated to NJ last year. I can't ever get through to an agent and when, after many attempts and finally getting someone to call me back, I've been hung up on twice. The first time the woman was incredibly rude to me when I was trying to answer her questions. She then said, "Why do they argue?" (I wasn't arguing, I was being polite and trying to answer her question). I said, "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but this is the information that I have on my w2. the information is correct.I've been trying to file a claim for over a week now..." She continued to be rude and argumentative. And when I tried to answer her question she hung up on me. Today, when an agent called me back she asked for my name and ss# twice, told me the computers were slow and then hung up on me.
WTF?
There is no recourse for any of us who have had this treatment.
The UI office can fire all these rude agents and hire anyone on this thread...unemployment problem solved.

http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us The only way to address these issues is to contact the acting commissioner. Please see link attached.

No one answers when you call numbers listed [protected], Union City at [protected], and Cumberland County at [protected]. Contact the Acting Commissioner for issues pertaining to unemployment. Please see link http://lwd.state.nj.us/labor/aboutlwd/aboutcommish.html
This issue appears to have been occurring for a number of years, it is time to address.

I find the woman in charge at the Newton Office is rude and more than once has lied to me about my claim. I filed a wage complaint and went to that office to see if it was being scheduled. She told me it was, but I did not believe her. Waited in my car until she went to lunch and then went back into the UI office. Another woman assisted me, went on line and told me it had not been filed much less scheduled. She took care of filing and submitting the claim. I later received a hearing date and was awarded overtime pay for 100 hours which was a sizeable amount of money. Others have shared the same horror stories of being treated rudely at this office.

1st time claiming unemployment. I cannot get ahold of anyone to speak to. I also claimed my home state of PA initially and after a week they called and said to file in NJ where I worked. Its bad enough people in this situation are already stressed and operating with a high level of anxiety. I did file the initial claim and printed out the confirmation. The print-out states that you will receive notification of when and how to claim benefits. So far nothing, not even an email with instructions. It say's that I have a phone interview on Aug 10th, which is 9 days away! Not sure if I need to go online to file each week as I'm sure that you will loose each week you haven't filed. However, not having a PIN number or NJ driver license number, it won't even let me proceed. What a terrible system.

Opened a claim in October, It went to review. then pended in early November I call between 3 and 5 times a day and either get hung up on or the recording telling me due tot the high volume of calls they can't take my call now and to call call back on the next business day I start calling at 8 am
every morning through 5pm random time of the day still no results after a month of calling. and still no idea about my claim and no help for the past 3 months... This after working 16 years at the same company? This is crazy!

every single time I try and file on Sunday like they tell me to, the website is down, or kicks me off and I have to wait another 24 hours to certify for my benefits which is my living wages as of right now. why are they unable to figure this [censored] out? people have been complaining about it's completely horrible service for years and no change.

claimant #3924754 every week I claim and it says I am not payable and to call
3 weeks now and no one answers the phone if i made an error I cant fix because I cant get through. its been 3 weeks and I have nothing I filed on MArch 22 but need to change my last day of work to MArch 26, 2020

There's Noway Unemployment Workers Are Working Around The Clock If So People Would'nt Have To Wait Soo Long To Get Their Benefits They All Should Be Fired! Stop Them From Working At Home Because Nothing Is Getting Done At All!

New Jersey unemployment has completely failed and fell apart this year during covid-19. They showed that they need to be completely revamped

I filed a claim for NJ unemployment and received a confirmation number. I did not receive notification of when and how to claim my benefits. When I went into certify for weekly benefits, my claim did not show.

Also back in January, when I tried to claim my weekly benefits for my claim dated 1/30/22 I kept getting booted off the site. I never was able to claim that week and I just gave up.

Now this is a new claim for the week ending 5/21/222 and I am still not getting unemployment.

I have tried numerous times to call without getting a person to talk to. Can someone PLEASE help me or guide me what I should do next...

I filed 2 months ago, and I haven’t heart anything in a month! I’m still injured because I was fired being on light duty and got a lawyer to help me because I been horrible treated and don’t know what too do!

Csn someone from nj unemployment please call me! I've called for 9 months and for the most part would speak with someone live. But the past few weeks I haven't been able to get a hold of anyone. Every time I spoke with someone in the past 9 months they told me that yes my claim was being processed and it should be no more than 2 weeks. Then I spoke with someone and she said that sorry due to human error my claim was sitting in a hold status and nothing was being done with it. I asked if she could see any notes that were left previously. She said that they do not have any system that keeps notes so she was not able to see any prior calls nor conversations that went on. That was after speaking with 32 different people. She then finally said that my claim was in the correct place and that it was being processed. 4 months and being told 2 more times that it should be no more than 2 weeks, still nothing. I emailed NJ senator, no response. Any suggestions? Email has no correspondence as well.

filed a claim back in 3/20/22 but due to the IDme it delayed my claim. I waited and called in May hoping it would be fixed. Called 6/11/2022 & was told it would be another 5-8 weeks! Still not fixed. I am a union employee, lay-offs happen often. I need to get this cleared up in case I have an extended lay-off. 5 months it too long for this.

I applied for unemployment back in February of 2022 and have been giving the run around of not providing enough information or letters I’ve never received the only letter I’ve gotten were denial letters. It’s to the point I will contact the governor as I am entitled to the money I worked for. And the fact I can not speak to someone to get this resolved. I have two kids and bills so far behind because I did not have the funds when I was unemployed because no one got back to me to help.

I applied for unemployment back February 2022 I’ve been giving the run around I’ve filled out the emails sent requesting more info can never get anyone on the phone. I’m trying to claim my money for the days I haven’t worked. I am being pushed to some how get a letter to the governor because this is not fair. They have a lack of staff to provide people with answers I get a denial letter then I get a letter about how to claim for benefits which one is it I want a call regarding this I even sent emails no response