Opinion
2013-06-20
In the Matter of the Claim of Sunil GEORGE, Appellant. Commissioner of Labor, Respondent.
Sunil George, Hempstead, appellant pro se. Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York City (Gary Leibowitz of counsel), for respondent.
Sunil George, Hempstead, appellant pro se. Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York City (Gary Leibowitz of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed July 5, 2012, which ruled that claimant was ineligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits because he was unable to file a valid original claim.
Claimant stopped working in June 2007. He did not file an original claim for unemployment insurance benefits until August 2011. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board found claimant to be ineligible to receive benefits on the basis that he did not meet the earnings requirements for filing a valid original claim pursuant to Labor Law § 527. Claimant appeals.
We affirm. Inasmuch as claimant had no earnings from April 2010 through June 30, 2011, he did not meet the remuneration necessary during either the base period or alternative base period in order to file a valid original claim ( seeLabor Law § 527[1], [2]; Matter of Wells [Commissioner of Labor], 101 A.D.3d 1212, 1213, 954 N.Y.S.2d 509 [2012];Matter of Stennett [Commissioner of Labor], 54 A.D.3d 478, 478–479, 862 N.Y.S.2d 649 [2008] ). Claimant contends that the filing of his application was delayed due to mental health issues and, therefore, his base period should be extended on account of his disability. We note, however, that the statute only makes an exception for a disability in cases where claimants have received either workers' compensation benefits or benefits pursuant to the Volunteer Firefighters' Benefit Law ( seeLabor Law § 527[3]; Matter of Kokolakis [Commissioner of Labor], 97 A.D.3d 880, 881, 948 N.Y.S.2d 198 [2012] ). As there is no proof in the record that claimant received either of these benefits due to his disability, the Board properly found that he was unable to file a valid original claim ( see Matter of Kokolakis [Commissioner of Labor], 97 A.D.3d at 881, 948 N.Y.S.2d 198).
ORDERED that the decision is affirmed, without costs.