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It is possible that workers who were required to reimburse unemployment benefits issued during the COVID pandemic – 12 are receiving a refund.
However, States may take up to a year to issue the money, according to a memorandum issued Wednesday by the US Department of Labor
Many states attempted to recover unemployment benefits of hundreds of thousands of Americans since the spring of 2020, when jobless claims totaled millions across the country.
Now the Department of Labor has issued a guide to states that recommends allowing people to keep that extra money, as long as they didn’t cheat to get it.
Many workers received financial assistance through a new federal program, Pandemic unemployment assistance (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, PUA), created by the CARES Act, to extend assistance to a large number of people who are not normally eligible for state benefits.
States rushed to issue benefits amid a flood of claims, only later realized that some had been paid in error, due to mistakes by both applicants and state labor offices.
However, the CARES Act did not provide a safety valve for states to forgive overpayments. Basically, that meant states should try to collect the funds .
Texas, for example, sent notices to some 260, and on October 1 and tried to recover $ 214 million dollars, reported CNBC .
Refunds and exemptions
The Department of Labor guidance allows states to choose to waive overpayment of benefits.
Now, states that opt for that forgiveness must issue refunds to workers who have returned all or some of your benefits before obtaining an exemption, according to the Department of Labor.
“ It may take some time (for example, up to a year) for states to process such refunds and states are encouraged to contact the Department for technical assistance, ” said the agency in a guide issued on Wednesday.
States can forgive overpayments if a worker was not at fault and the recovery of funds would cause financial difficulties, for example.
“In many cases, people received payments for which they could not have been eligible for reasons beyond their control ”, according to the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Suzi LeVine.
“The guidance issued today by the Department of Labor will help states address this important issue, giving them greater flexibility to waive recovery of improper payments from honest workers who continue fighting and addressing cases where there is true fraud, ”LeVine added.
According to the department’s new guidance, such exemptions should be issued when the recipient acted in good faith and when “reimbursement would be contrary to equity and good conscience ia. ”
What if a state has already recovered the money, before this orientation? In general, you should go ahead and return it, the department said.
With information from Business Insider and 1210101977 CNBC