IN RE: the Claim of KEVIN DALE (2026)

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Calendar Date:  June 12, 2026

Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed June 18, 2025, which ruled that claimant's request for a hearing was untimely.

The Department of Labor issued initial determinations that, among other things, disqualified claimant from receiving unemployment insurance benefits and charged him with a recoverable overpayment.  An Administrative Law Judge ruled that claimant's request for a hearing was untimely and continued the initial determinations.  That decision was affirmed by the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board.  Claimant appeals.

We affirm.  Labor Law § 620(1)(a) provides that a claimant who is dissatisfied with an initial determination issued by the Department has 30 days from the date of the mailing or personal delivery of the determination to request a hearing, unless he or she is prevented from doing so by physical or mental incapacity (see Matter of Lewkowitz [Commissioner of Labor], 165 AD3d 1336, 1337 [3d Dept 2018] ).  Here, the initial determinations were mailed on August 1, 2024 and set forth explicit instructions as to the manner and timeliness of a hearing request, which claimant acknowledged he read.  Claimant testified that he first mailed a written request for a hearing in October 2024 and again in December 2024, both of which are beyond the 30–day statutory period in which to request such a hearing.  Although claimant testified that he was unable to request a hearing online and had made numerous calls to the Department that were not answered, such testimony is not a basis to justify an extension of the statutory period to request a hearing.  As such, the Board's decision that claimant's hearing request was untimely will not be disturbed (see Matter of Harte [Commissioner of Labor], 237 AD3d 1331, 1332 [3d Dept 2025];  Matter of Lewkowitz [Commissioner of Labor], 165 AD3d at 1337;  Matter of Meltzer [Commissioner of Labor], 298 A.D.2d 827, 827 [3d Dept 2002] ).

Garry, P.J., Aarons, Reynolds Fitzgerald, Powers and Corcoran, JJ., concur.

ORDERED that the decision is affirmed, without costs.