April 30, 2021

DUA requesting reimbursement of overpaid benefits from many claimants

BY BRICEYDA LANDAVERDE & OLIVIA HICKEYwesternmassnews.com

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) — Western Mass News has learned many Massachusetts workers, who were left jobless last year, are now being asked by the Department of Unemployment Assistance to repay benefits they received.

Western Mass News got answers, walking you through this step-by-step, breaking down what you need to know if you are unable to pay the state back.

There are two kinds of unemployment assistance: regular unemployment and pandemic unemployment.

According to public records requests sent by Western Mass News, in 2020, the Department of Unemployment Assistance overpaid benefits to over 105,000 regular unemployment insurance claimants.

The amount of money they were overpaid totaled over $257 million. We broke down the difference and what it means for your wallet.

Emily, who lives in eastern Massachusetts, was a senior in college when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Like many, she was forced to leave her dorm and lost her on-campus job.

“I didn’t make enough to qualify for regular unemployment so I had to do a pandemic one,” Emily said.

Pandemic unemployment assistance, or PUA, was created in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic for certain workers who otherwise would not qualify for regular UI.

Emily filed for PUA in May of 2020, but did not receive any benefits until August.

“And they gave it to me retroactively, so it was $200 a week, but I got it all plus the $300 in a lump sum,” Emily said.

In total, she received $16,000 dollars in pandemic benefits. A few months after, she received notice that she owed all of those funds back.

DUA told Western Mass News that overpayments of regular unemployment benefits were ordered to be paid back. As for pandemic unemployment, the overpayments may appear in portals, but they have not been finalized and no action has been taken to demand collection.

“People are seeing astronomical amounts that they are being asked to repay,” said Cory Mescon an attorney for Central West Justice Center, an affiliate of Community Legal Aide.

Mescon told Western Mass News this happened to many Americans.

“Often, we see overpayments when someone was either overpaid benefits they weren’t entitled to or paid the wrong amount of benefits based on a decision that the DUA made with incomplete information. They could have not understood a question, they could have been trying to answer questions in a language that was not their first language, or they simply could have made a mistake,” Mescon said.

Mescon told us it’s impossible to ask people to repay this money.

“So people aren’t saving this money, people are spending this money and people relied on this money. For them to later be told ‘Oh sorry, either you made a mistake or we made a mistake and actually you owe us thousands of dollars,’ it’s really adding a lot of grief to people’s shoulders during already a stressful time,” Mescon said.

Here is a breakdown of what you can do.

Mescon said you can appeal or request a waiver for the amount of overpayment.

If you apply for the waiver, you have to show it was not your fault that the DUA sent you an overpayment and that it would cause you financial hardship for you to pay it back.

“I can’t afford my rent, I can’t afford to put food on the table, all of those types of things,” she said.

Mescon said if the waiver is denied, you can appeal that ruling. “At the very least, you could prolong the collection of any overpayment,’” she explained and added, “My understanding is that the DUA is simply overwhelmed with trying to process everything else and they just haven’t been able to explore any of the waivers requested that have come in.”

In Emily’s case, she decided to apply for an appeal.

“And then when I went into hearing and explained everything and then they came back and said I only have to pay half of it back, not the whole thing,” Emily said.

The explanation she got, her job should have ended when she graduated in May. Therefore, her benefits should have expired then too.

Emily paid back the state half of what she received, totaling $8,000.

Representative Lindsay Sabadosa said her office has received numerous calls from people for help.

“We are able to connect with unemployment. Again, in a more direct manner, we can get a little faster answers to questions about whether the claw-back is valid. In some cases, we found the letter was issued by mistake, so that’s an easy fix. In other cases, you know it’s a little more complicated,” Sabadosa said.

Mescon said if no action is taken for regular unemployment overpayments, the DUA can seek to garnish your tax returns or withhold future benefits.