By Max Parrott

It took Robert Griswold more than a dozen failed attempts to complete his unemployment benefits application, before he read the fine print of the pop-up window that kept interrupting his progress and timing him out.

“This application is designed to work with Internet Explorer {5.0} and Netscape {6.0} and newer versions,” the notification said, referring to a pair of Y2K-era web browsers.

That’s when Griswold began to experiment. He switched from Chrome to a contemporary version of Internet Explorer and was pleased to find that the difficulties with the site stopped. Immediately he was able to file his claim, and he made an Instagram post encouraging others to do the same.

Griswold, who was laid off from a doggie day care business, is one of tens of thousands of New Yorkers who have begun to collect unemployment benefits in the past two weeks. The state Department of Labor’s old-school unemployment website has struggled to handle the spike in users forced from their jobs by the COVID-19 shutdown.

The crisis has exposed the frailty of DOL’s antiquated web system and compelled the newly unemployed to find some idiosyncratic workarounds to the website.

“I went to school at a state university and know how decrepit and sclerotic state digital infrastructure can be. So, the fact that it was crashing did not surprise me, but that also wasn't comforting,” said Matt, a worker at a Queens art studio who was laid off last Tuesday. He asked to be referred to by his first name because his employer may rehire him.

Matt and his furloughed friends compared notes and shared tips in an online chat. Here’s some of that hard-earned wisdom:

The timed-out glitch

Like Griswold, Matt and his friends found that even when the website didn’t crash, their applications kept timing out when the session expired, though the website does not set a clear time limit. The application would simply cut off at irregular intervals. That meant they had to start from the beginning without any saved progress each time. But they figured out how to solve the problem: if they kept their cursors moving, and didn’t leave the tab, they had more success moving through the application.

The time-out glitch turned the application into a race to the finish, which made Matt nervous. The instructions caution that if information is incorrect or inconsistent, the applicant could lose their benefits without any way to get them back.

The Microsoft edge

Matt and his co-workers also confirmed that the unemployment platform caters to a Microsoft system. Though part of the DOL’s website claims that the web platform is compatible with all web browsers, they heeded the same pop-up as Griswold, and downloaded Microsoft Edge, a free browser that is available for all operating systems. Matt said that the browser was instrumental to finishing his claim.

The right time of day

Timing is also a major factor in finishing and submitting a claim. Other applicants reported having greater success immediately after the system goes online at 7:30 a.m. or in the final hour or so before it shuts down for the day at 7:30 p.m. when traffic is lower.

Despite the delays, DOL spokesperson Deanna Cohen made assurances that people will get their cash.

“It is important to stress that everyone will receive their full benefit back to the date of unemployment,” Cohen said.

Stick to the ABCs

Cohen encouraged applicants to adhere to the alphabetic filing system that DOL has instituted.

Individuals with a last name that starts with A-F will file on Mondays. Those with a last name that starts with G-N will file on Tuesdays. Those with a last name that starts with O-Z will file on Wednesdays.

People who miss their filing day can submit claims on Thursday, Friday or by phone on Saturday.

The DOL told the Eagle they have taken steps to cope with the online failures. The agency added servers and bandwidth to strengthen the website, and hired 700 new staff members to beef up its phone intake. The agency said that it received over 1,734,100 total calls and 2,270,300 web hits between March 16 and 21.

The improvements to the telephone service have made an impact. As of noon March 16, DOL operators answered 8,758 calls, compared to the previous Monday, when they only received 2,542, according to a DOL spokesperson.

Improvements to the website are not as apparent. Gov. Andrew Cuomo — his focus more on the immediate health response to the pandemic than on its resulting economic effects — seemed to confirm the unemployment website’s recurring problems during a daily press conference on Sunday.

“The IT consultants can't even figure out how to handle the volume,” Cuomo told reporters.