Saratoga County woman says she’s still waiting for unemployment assistance

After months of waiting, a Saratoga County woman said she still is waiting on pandemic unemployment assistance.

Kerry Stapleton reached out to NewsChannel 13 on behalf of his wife, Lissette.

Stapleton said his wife was furloughed on April 14, and filed for unemployment the next day.

“It’s not her fault that the system was not working properly, in their mind, she just didn’t request those benefits, she sent a written letter 3 times so far, faxed it in, requesting at least 3 weeks of full benefits plus the first week they did give her benefits they gave her about $182 instead of $504 so the math says they owe her about $3,600 and she’s entitled to it," said Stapleton.

A letter dated July 13 showed $500 in weekly pandemic assistance for Lissette effective April 20.

However, at the end of May a letter requested back benefits.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that the state is working to accelerate getting checks out the door.

Cuomo said 3.2 million New Yorkers have received $34.4 billion, while also acknowledging a phone system glitch as recently as last week. He also said 3,000 people were hired to work on the phones.