Some New York state residents are finding out they are blocked from receiving unemployment benefits because of unresolved issues with the system, and legislative intervention is in the works.

Members of a newly formed online activist group, NYS Unemployment Forfeit Days, have caught the attention of state lawmakers who filed bills in the state Senate (S8275) and Assembly (A10348) this week to get those benefits released.

Lenore Smith, a group member, and laid-off restaurant manager told Spectrum News she and others were informed by officials at the state Department of Labor their state and federal payments are not being released because they may owe for outstanding “forfeit days.”

Forfeit days are days when people received benefits for which the recipients were later found to be ineligible. The twin bills are short and direct, and, if passed, would make those with unresolved penalties eligible for unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 emergency declaration.

In an interview outside her apartment Friday, Smith told Spectrum News she does not recall receiving any notification about forfeit days that she needed to resolve.

Still, even without legislation to fix the forfeit days glitch, she wonders why the state is not releasing to her a weekly $600 relief payment the federal government is offering each unemployed worker in addition to state benefits.

While the supplemental payments originate from federal funds, they are administered through state governments.

“I can still survive on $600 a week,” Smith told Spectrum News on Friday. “I don’t know how everyone else in this group feels, but that would be a quick fix.”

District 42 Senator Jen Metzger, whose district includes Sullivan County and parts of Ulster and Orange counties, is co-sponsoring the Senate version of the bill that was filed Friday.

District 3 Senator Mojica Martinez is the bill’s original sponsor and District 67 Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal sponsored the lower chamber’s version.

“I want to go back to work. I’ve been ready to go back to work. I just can’t. There’s no job for me right now,” Smith said. ”It’s basically about just getting someone to hear our case at the state and the Department of Labor and starting to release our money.”