Opinion
529813
01-23-2020
In the Matter of the Claim of Carlyn WATTS, Appellant. v. COMMISSIONER OF LABOR, Respondent.
Carlyn Watts, New York City, appellant pro se. Letitia James, Attorney General, New York City (Bessie Bazile of counsel), for respondent.
Carlyn Watts, New York City, appellant pro se.
Letitia James, Attorney General, New York City (Bessie Bazile of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Garry, P.J., Egan Jr., Clark, Mulvey and Devine, JJ.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed March 20, 2019, which dismissed claimant's appeal from a decision of the Administrative Law Judge as untimely.
By decision filed January 8, 2019, an Administrative Law Judge (hereinafter ALJ) ruled that claimant was unable to file a valid original claim in either his base period or alternate base period as set forth in Labor Law § 527. Claimant did not appeal the ALJ's decision to the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board until February 22, 2019. The Board dismissed claimant's appeal as untimely, prompting this appeal.
We affirm. " Labor Law § 621(1) provides that an appeal to the Board from a decision of an ALJ must be made within 20 days of the mailing or personal delivery of the decision, and this time requirement is strictly construed" ( Matter of Williams [Commissioner of Labor] , 163 A.D.3d 1389, 1390, 77 N.Y.S.3d 903 [2018] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]; accord Matter of Page [Commissioner of Labor] , 152 A.D.3d 857, 858, 57 N.Y.S.3d 774 [2017] ). Claimant did not appeal to the Board within the statutorily-prescribed time period, nor has he offered any excuse for the delay (see Matter of Alford [Commissioner of Labor] , 153 A.D.3d 1479, 1480, 59 N.Y.S.3d 727 [2017] ; Matter of Davis [Commissioner of Labor] , 144 A.D.3d 1307, 1308, 40 N.Y.S.3d 304 [2016] ). Under these circumstances, the Board properly dismissed claimant's appeal as untimely and, therefore, the merits of the ALJ's decision are not properly before us (see Matter of Padilla [Commissioner of Labor] , 136 A.D.3d 1080, 1081, 23 N.Y.S.3d 915 [2016] ; Matter of Matteo [Commissioner of Labor] , 134 A.D.3d 1307, 1307, 20 N.Y.S.3d 915 [2015] ).
Garry, P.J., Egan Jr., Clark, Mulvey and Devine, JJ., concur.
ORDERED that the decision is affirmed, without costs.