Is everything MUCH more difficult now or is this on me/my employer?

Hi everyone. I have been on UI a few times in the past (I work in a cursed industry lol).

In prior years the process was pretty straightforward. The last time I applied and received UI (more than a year ago) my claim was all digitally filed and approved without issue.

This time around has been INSANE. If I didn’t have a little money saved and credit cards I would be completely screwed. I’m not sure how much is due to the overloaded NYDOL system or how much is on me & former employer.

-first received messages that I needed to complete info with claims rep

-went into spiral of the inaccessible claims line from hell I now know from here is standard

-contacted my assembly member office and had them email

-still nothing. finally one day got through to claims rep via claims line. She told me to submit my first and last month paystubs through the NYDOL messaging system, which I did

-nothing for many days. Then on Monday I received about 6 separate paper mail letters from NYDOL. There were two benefit determinations saying I didn’t qualify because my old company hadn’t reported any wages for me.

-there were also long questionnaires requesting additional info on my layoff (long story but it wasn’t for any rule violations, just vague BS “not meeting expectations”), a questionnaire on my severance payout (two weeks paid out before I filed). I had provided answers to both of these in my original claim.

-there was also a massive questionnaire on being engaged with business activity (I very rarely do some freelance work, but it is a potential source of income - I likely shouldn’t have checked that box, but I wanted to avoid any issues if I do receive freelance payments going forward).

-it took me many hours to answer and compile all the info requested, including 3 years of my personal tax returns lol

-then today I received another questionnaire, this time via email, about which state I had worked in, since my company’s payroll office address is in another state, I guess? This one struck me as odd because a prior claim also had an out of state payroll office and there were no issues with that.

I obviously complicated my claim somewhat I guess - but I have never experienced anything like this in the UI process. It feels like the system has kicked into hyperdrive in terms of both info requests and a lack of staffing to handle said info. Has anyone else experienced this flood of questionnaires?

But I’m also wondering how much of this rn is resulting from my company apparently not reporting info on my wages/employment? Is there anything I can do about that beyond providing my employment contract and all pay info (which I now have)?

Sorry for the long post, but I’m spinning out a bit and curious what others have experienced, esp if you got some of the same questionnaires. I expect to be waiting for weeks if not longer to hear back, and I’m afraid it will be the same denials, since they asked for a TON of info to go through but the previous proofs I had sent didn’t seem to be factored in.

Also maybe others here can learn from any mistakes I made while filing.