What to Do If You’re Laid Off Due to Coronavirus Closures|NBC New York

How do I apply for unemployment? What do I do if I can't pay my rent or mortgage? What about utilities, taxes? Scroll down for advice on these topics and more.

Many in the tri-state are facing layoffs as the states impose closures of non-essential businesses to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The New York State Department of Labor has been "deluged" with people trying to apply for unemployment, Gov. Cuomo said Tuesday Mar. 31. "It keeps crashing because you literally have hundreds of thousands of people at any time trying to get on the site."

In the five days from Mar. 23 - 28 the department got over 8.2 million calls -- a 16,000% increase from its normal numbers -- and 3.4 million visits for online unemployment filing. The governor assured New Yorkers the state was working on it, and even if your filing is delayed, you will still receive the entire benefit you are entitled to.

On March 26, the U.S. government reported weekly first-time unemployment claims of 3.28 million, almost triple what Wall Street expected -- and an all-time record nearly five times the previous peak in the early 1980s.

If you're one of those people laid off -- or you're worried you're going to be laid off, or you are a small business feeling the strain of the virus -- some basic advice from officials, legal experts and budgeting officials is below.

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