2/14/13 Got letter in the mail claiming overpayment fraud.

[Djavo2268]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
California.

Hi, new here and figured you guys or ladies would be able to give me advice on my problem. I got two letters claiming overpayment fraud from California Employment Development Department citing that I violated one of their rules which includes a penalty. One citing an overpayment in the amount of $975.00 has been charged to your account in connection with a claim for unemployment insurance. Benefits were paid before it was known that you had quit your job without good cause. The other letter cited the same thing but for $1170.00. They claim that I made willful false statements, or I withheld relevant information.

I'm going to go ahead and list the back story for information. I worked for my job that I claimed benefits for from 03/11 - 01/12. I got laid off, which is grounds for receiving benefits. During that time I started to claim benefits 02/28/12. I did not receive nor claim benefits from 04/24/12 - 06/21/12 because during this time I moved out of state (Albuquerque, New Mexico) and got a job in New Mexico working for Wal-mart. I worked there from 05/08/12 - 06/05/12 in which on 06/05/12 I moved back to California. As soon as I started living back in California I started to claim benefits for my old job that I got laid off from. My first payment came 06/22/12. I received benefits while being unemployed until 09/01/12. I stopped receiving benefits for my old job after they scheduled a re-eligibility interview in which I declined the offer. I stated that I didn't want their benefits any longer and I was going to find a job within the month. They sent me a letter of determination that they have as of 9/12 that they have denied my claim for benefits. I tried to re-open my claim for Job that I got laid off from as of 01/13 and listed Wal-mart as a job I worked for in New Mexico. Since doing this EDD has charged me with overpayment fraud. The overpayment fraud charges are for 06/09/12, 06/16/12, 06/23/12, 06/30/12, 07/07/12, 07/14/12, 07/21/12, 07/28/12, 08/04/12, 08/11/12, and 08/18/12. During these dates I was completely and honestly unemployed. I did not work, receive money from anyone else and lived with my parent as a dependent. These are all overpayment charges for $150.00 each respectively.

Now what I don't understand is that you can still work part time and still receive benefits which still doesn't matter since I never claimed any benefits while working for Wal-Mart. They are accusing me of overcharging fraud for my old company which was completely ok to claim benefits from since I was laid off. I never claimed any benefit from Wal-Mart since I quit, I only claimed benefits from my old job. Why are they accusing me of overpayments if it was completely ok for me to claim benefits from a position I was laid off from?

Is this a mistake? They are charging me for overpayment fraud on a false premise that I was claiming benefits from a position that I quit from. They are also charging me overpayment fraud on a claim that I denied benefits from once they scheduled a re-eligibility interview. Also if I were to claim benefits for walmart it would be only $50.00 a week instead of $150.00, which is another oversight in their mathematical reasoning.

I appreciate the help if there is any to offer.

 

[ecmst12]

You quit the job in NM to move back to CA. That was a voluntary quit without good cause. That disqualifies you from receiving any further unemployment benefits. Your FINANCIAL eligibility is determined by the job you were laid off from (since that's the job you were working at during the qualifying quarters), but your eligibility based on the REASON for your unemployment is based off of the most recent job you had. Going back to work and then quitting the new job was your error.

 

[Djavo2268]

So are they in the right for charging me?

 

[ecmst12]

Sounds like it to me.

 

[Djavo2268]

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. Have a good night.

 

[swalsh411]

The penalties are to defray part of the costs of going after people who were overpaid and also to serve as a deterrent to others who may be considering something similar.

 

[commentator]

"As soon as I started living back in California I started to claim benefits for my old job that I got laid off from. My first payment came 06/22/12. I received benefits while being unemployed until 09/01/12."

That was where you committed your fraud. None of the unemployment you drew after moving back to CA and re-opening your claim without telling them about the work you'd done out of state and quit should have been paid. You lied to get it. You don't have the liberty of getting to decide to "start drawing from my old employer where I was laid off" The system has very strict rules about who is your separating employer, and even if you are already in a benefit year with a claim set up, and were legitimately drawing off your former employer where you were legitimately laid off, there is also that you moved out of state, you worked somewhere else, voluntarily quit, and then failed to answer the question about your last employment honestly when you moved back and re-opened that CA claim that was still in effect.

But they didn't catch that right away. They only caught that you were stopping the claim by refusing to cooperate with a re-eligibility interview and refusing the job offer. This got you a non fault overpayment. Then they got hold of the information that you were drawing illegally, that you had falsified your information to get back on your claim when you moved back to CA. So you are overpaid, it is a fault overpayment, and it is correct. You got a notice about the first overpayment based on your refusal to accept the referral, and then they picked up on that second overpayment, based on fraud and recalculated.

"Also if I were to claim benefits for Walmart it would be only $50.00 a week instead of $150.00, which is another oversight in their mathematical reasoning."
Not the way it works. Your claim does not change each time your employer changes.
At the time it is filed, an unemployment claim is set up based on the past 18 months of covered wages and the reason for separation from the last employer. Once it is in place, the amount you can draw is in place for one full year from the time it is filed. (The BYE) if you first filed in Jan of last year, the claim was in place until January 2013. Working at new places would not change that claim once it is filed.

During that time, the wages you are drawing from are not changed. The amount you can get does not change. WHO the employers are who provided your wages to set up the claim does not matter.

But during the year, any time you accept and work at another job for a covered employer, that changes your separating employer, and may definitely change your eligibility to drawn the benefits you have in the year's claim.

No, it was not "completely okay for me to get benefits from the job I was laid off from." Because when you signed up for it the second time, reopening that same claim, you lied about the last place you worked, which was Wal-mart, not that old company.

You had a different separating employer, regardless of where the wages came from that set up the original claim. As I said, you don't just walk in and say, "I'm selecting that I want to draw from my old company, please." You are asked,'Where was the last place you worked?" and you conveniently forgot to mention that stint at Wal-mart in another state. Their system eventually caught up with that, those wages from Wal-mart were reported, they were able to see where you worked, and how much you made every single week you worked.

If you had continued filing for your benefits while working out of state at Wal-mart, and you had filed weekly certifications all that time, correctly showing that you were working yet making less each week in gross wages than you would have been able to draw each week in unempoyment benefits, you might have been able to continue drawing partial unemployment during the time you worked there. But you didn't do this.

Any week you made over the amount of your weekly maximum benefit, it would've stopped that claimanyway. But then when you quit the job at Wal-mart, even if it was part time, you changed your separating employer, none the less. They always ask "Did you quit or were you fired from a job this week?"when you certify for a week of benefits.

The day you quit Wal-mart, you changed your eligibility for benefits. Wal-mart was the last place you worked, and you voluntarily quit that job, and you probably wouldn't have been approved for a re-open of your claim, (depending on why you were quitting and moving) but you didn't tell them and let them make that decision when you moved home and reopened the claim, you just lied about it by failing to mention it.

So all that money you drew after you came back to CA was overpayment, and we don't care how unemployed, deserving, destitute, etc, you were, you had committed fraud to get it by lying about your last place of employment. So it's all fraud overpayment, to be recclaimed with penalties.

Your overpayment is correct. Do not attempt to whine and argue around with them about it based on your very limited and mostly incorrect understanding of how unemployment insurance works.

Get in touch with the fraud unit, and set up a payment program if you are now employed, unless you want them to begin a garnishment procedure. If you are not employed, are really financially distressed at this time, and lack the means to pay back the overpayment and penalties, ask about the possibility of a waiver.

The worst thing you can do is ignore their notices of overpayment, or lawyer up and attempt to fight them. There's nothing to fight here, no mistakes were made, you did get the overpayment, whether you did it ignorantly or deliberately. If you will work with them, the unit will very likely work with you to set up a repayment program, and get this taken care of. They are more interested in getting their money back than in punishing you criminally.

If you refuse to cooperate, they can take your tax refunds, garnish your wages, keep you from getting your state licenses and permits, take it all the way to pressing criminal charges if they want to. It is to your advantage to work with them.

 

[swalsh411]

And**************. another smackdown by commentator!