By initial determination dated and mailed August 17, 2005, claimant was disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits on the basis that she voluntarily left her employment without good cause and assessed a recoverable overpayment of benefits upon a finding that claimant made willful false statements for the purpose of obtaining benefits. Despite receiving the determination shortly after it was mailed, claimant did not request a hearing until September 27, 2005 because she was busy working and neglected to read that part of the determination regarding her right to a hearing. Inasmuch as claimant did not provide a reasonable excuse for failing to request a hearing within the strict 30-day statutory time period set forth in Labor Law § 620 (1) (a), we find no reason to disturb the decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board finding that claimant's request for a hearing was untimely ( see Matter of Brown [Commissioner of Labor], 4 AD3d 604; Matter of Hart [Hudacs], 199 AD2d 667, 668). In view of the foregoing, the merits of the initial determination denying claimant's request for unemployment insurance benefits are not properly before this Court ( see Matter of Wilner [Commissioner of Labor], 27 AD3d 860, 861).
Ordered that the decision is affirmed, without costs.