UPDATED POST: Guide How to Get Missing Unemployment Payments – NY

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Question: How do you certify back weeks?

As explained here, unemployment payments should be backdated back to the last day that you were able to work. The issue is that you must certify each week that you did not work in order to get the state unemployment + $600. Usually, you can only certify the current week, which you should be doing each week – ideally on Sunday. So what happens to all the weeks from your last day of employment until the date you applied for Unemployment?

Answer: Depending on when you completed your application (the application keeps on changing), you might have certified the back weeks during the application and you might not have certified.

If you did not certify the back weeks during the unemployment application process, the NY Department of Labor (DOL) is reaching out to people to help them certify back weeks. They announced this on Twitter, here and here.

So what should you do?

Check if you got an email from dse@docusign.net (Subject: Action Required – NYS DOL Certification for Back Week Payments). It will contain a link to a secure online form to complete in order to certify back weeks. Make sure to complete the form! 

Don’t see an email? Check your spam folder. They might reach out via text message, but so far it seems that they are doing it via email.

Still nothing? From what people are telling me, it seems that unemployment applications still in pending status did not receive the email to confirm the back weeks. So you might first need to wait until your application is confirmed before being able to certify for back weeks. It’s still a good idea to look out for an email from the DOL.

Good luck!
In case it interests you, the DOL is sending out lots of messages via Twitter.

For more on unemployment assistance, visit homeunemployed.com