How to fax the New York Department of Labor about unemployment

The numbers, and what each is for

New York is moving unemployment insurance to a new system called Unemployment Services, starting Monday 2 November 2026 at 5 p.m. The department expects the upgrade to take 9 to 12 days, with online and phone services unavailable. Its pages don’t say whether fax numbers will change, so check the department’s site, or your latest letter, before you send.

Official pages also list other general fax numbers: the unemployment contact page gives 518-457-9492, and the department’s reference guide TC 408 gives 518-457-7300. When a form or a letter names a number, use that one.

Asking for a hearing

If you disagree with a determination, you can ask for a hearing in writing, by fax, by mail or online. The Appeal Board says the request must be postmarked, faxed or sent electronically within 30 days of the date printed on the initial determination. A later request has to explain why it’s late.

Use the Claimant Request for Hearing form at the back of the claimant handbook, or a letter. The handbook asks a faxed request to include:

• your full name and the last four digits of your Social Security number;
• your current mailing address and phone number;
• the mail date of the determination, and a detailed explanation of why you think it’s wrong;
• any dates you can’t attend a hearing, including for religious observance, and any accommodation you need.

Attach any documents that support your case. Hearings are generally held within 30 days of the request. If no Notice of Hearing arrives within 30 days, the Appeal Board says to keep your original request, file another one and contact the department.

Before the hearing, the Appeal Board asks you to email or fax supporting documents to the contact on your hearing notice no later than 3 days before the hearing. After it, an appeal of the judge’s decision goes to the Appeal Board in Albany within 20 days, and the handbook says that limit is strictly enforced.

Employers ask for a hearing by mail, using form LO436.

Missing wages, alternate base period and missed weeks

• Request for Reconsideration (TC 403HR), when wages are missing or wrong on your Monetary Benefit Determination. It must arrive within 30 calendar days of the date that determination was mailed. Send copies, never originals, on single-sided letter-size pages, with your name, the last four digits of your Social Security number and your phone number on each attachment. You can also send it as a secure message in your online account, under “Submit Documents”, then “Submit Wage Documents”.
• Request for Alternate Base Period (TC 403HA): it must arrive within ten calendar days of the date your last Monetary Benefit Determination was mailed. No originals here either.
• Weeks you didn’t claim on time: send a request by secure message, fax or mail, with the start and end dates of the period, the reason you didn’t claim, and the last four digits of your Social Security number in the upper right corner. The department says not to call the Telephone Claims Center for this, and that the review can take two to three weeks.

Forms TC 403HR and TC 403HA say the form itself is your cover page, with a box for the total number of pages. Turn FaxTonic’s cover page off for these, so the form is page one, and count the pages you send.

What not to fax

• Identity documents. New York verifies identity through ID.me, and asks claimants to resubmit there even if they sent documents another way before. ID.me rejects scans and screenshots: it wants a photo of the original document.
• Originals. The department’s forms ask for copies only, and say originals can’t be returned.
• Your work search record, unless the department asks for it.

Proof of sending, and how New York replies

The department says it doesn’t confirm receipt of faxes or letters, and asks you to keep your fax confirmation as proof and a copy of anything you send. Its contact pages ask for your Social Security number at the top right of every faxed page, while its forms ask for the last four digits.

Replies come by mail, or by email if that’s how the department usually contacts you. Notices of hearing and decisions arrive the same way, and nothing comes back by fax.

Watch for scams

The department says its text messages come only through DocuSign or from 697365 (NYSDOL) or 22751, that its staff never contact you first by text, and that it won’t text you for your driver’s license details. Sign in to ID.me only through the state’s own landing page, on.ny.gov/id.me.

How to fax NYSDOL with FaxTonic

1. Complete the form or letter, sign it, and write your details on every page as described above.
2. Scan the pages, or photograph each one flat and in good light. FaxTonic takes PDF, JPEG, and PNG files, up to 4 MB once prepared for faxing and 20 pages per fax.
3. Open FaxTonic and add your file. For TC 403HR and TC 403HA, turn the cover page off. For a letter, keep the free cover page with your name, a phone number and a subject such as “Request for hearing”.
4. Choose the United States, enter the number for your request and check the price: $1.49 a page. Then pay by card.
5. When the status page shows the fax delivered, save a screenshot of it with your copy of what you sent: it’s your proof, since New York won’t confirm receipt.