38,000 Unemployed told they owe the state money - $28 million combined

I've been unemployed a while now since the February this year. Yesterday I received a stack of letters from my state unemployment office. I owe the state $3,500 for over-payments which is roughly all of my extensions combined. In fact they want my entire second and third tier payments back and have canceled my fourth tier. Needless to say this is crazy for them to ask for money back from the unemployed.

I have read all the state laws dealing with unemployment benefits and can not figure out how they messed up this badly. My personal opinion is that they are misinterpreting the design of unemployment benefits and how they are calculated.

Some stories about the incident below. Do you think government should require the unemployed to pay back benefits they received through no fault of their own? Do you think the monies should be waived by the state?

justjobs.com...

www.blueridgenow.com...

Yeah, I read about that yesterday.

Do you think they would except an IOU?

If off UC benefits, I would give them a call and say the IOU is in the mail.

I don't think they should be waived, but I don't think they should be taken from the unemployed either.

What would make the most sense is to give people a choice of either paying back now or paying back after they find employment and offering a deferment program.

Of course, if unemployment insurance was privatized like it should be, there wouldn't be screw ups like this.

If your granted any extensions you received a letter of financial determination which basically states you are entitled to the extensions. State unemployment offices cannot grant you a extension without that letter. I would sent them a copy of those letters of financial determination,and then tell them to kiss your ass.

Tell the SOB's it's not their money to start with.

North Carolina got bailed out by the US taxpayer. They're pissed because of their screw up. Too bad, get over.

Remind them that President Obama told people, back in 2008, he wanted to spread the wealth.

all they can do is sue you -- win the case in court -- and either garnish your next paychecks (if there ever are any more) -- and/or force a sell off of assets.
you could file bankruptcy and maybe get away with some or all of it.

reply to post by mnemeth1


Here is the problem with what you suggest. The people being required to pay back money are actually entitled to the amount they received. The state overdrew employer's accounts and wants the money back, without giving the benefits to the people. So the people received the correct amounts of money...how is it that it is an overpayment?

The improper payments are the result of the ESC pulling compensation checks from the wrong funding sources and thus overdrawing some accounts, not the result of incorrectly calculating individuals' benefits, spokesman Larry Parker said.

..........and then next April 15th, a person drawing unemployment -- which they pre-PAID for, as mandated by law -- has the additional burdon of paying tax on that unemployment as income. I think that's just dead wrong. That portion of the system has sucked for a long time.

reply to post by wfaherty


Yes. I was recently approved for tier 4 extension. However, they cut it off last week stating they overpaid me and were taking my tier 4 to compensate their error.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


Don't these companies pay unemployment insurance to the state?



So, the state took the money from the companies bank accounts that already paid into unemployment and gave to the unemployed?

And now the companies that already paid unemployment premiums are now overdrawn. (Because the state stole their money.)



Looks to me that they just screwed over the companies pretty big. They get to pay twice.



That is a real fast way to send unemployment thought the roof. Idiots!

I am sorry for what has happen to the unemployed but, as a business owner I am pretty upset about what the state did to these businesses also.

The State can come and take money from an employers bank account any time they wish. They do it frequently. There is not much an employer can do to fight this thief.

Another crappy thing is, and this happened to my brother, if they over pay you ( to me that is THEIR FAULT they have everything computerized and computers don't make mistakes ) and you don't or refuse to pay them back in a timely manner they will ban you for life from uc benefits ( in the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania anyways). My brother had to appeal twice to keep from getting banned for life for under 200 dollars and it was THEIR faults. They are all corrupt and it pisses me off.

Me personally, I don't like my money going to the state or coming from the state directly. Too many times have I gotten reimbursement checks for child support when I was behind! WTF! Also, plenty of times has my payment "not been received" or double the amount was taken out. Regardless, I have wage attachments on my paychecks and I am not the accountant that writes or produces my checks so I feel I should not be at fault for others errors. I know they aren't because the turnover rate would be sky high for those individuals in their respected fields of work.

An update to this situation:

www.forbes.com...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Gov. Beverly Perdue has ordered North Carolina's Employment Security Commission to stop taking money out of unemployment checks to recoup overpayments that came from an administrative error.

Also the governor stated that all overpayments would be waived from Jan. 1. - May 16. Funny thing is that all of my overpayments originate after that date, so I still owe $3,500. Question is do they know that a majority of the overpayments occurred after the waived date and they just want to act like they are doing something, when in fact they are doing nothing?