Nevada Unemployment Fraud question

[Jleimer]

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

Hi, I got a letter stating that I did not report earnings for the week of 12/21/14 through 12/27/14. Now I did not work the week at my job because I was off that week as we did not have any work, but the adjudicator who I have a hearing with said that my employer said I made 213.75 during the week. Now that 213.75 was for the week of 12/14-12/20 in which I worked 4 days that week and the check date was for 12/26/14. Now, here is the question that is stated on here that is confusing me Even though you may not have been paid your wages, did you work during the week of 12/21/2014 to 12/27/2014? And I answered no to it thinking it was the week of 12/21/14 through 12/27/14 as I applied on that Sunday the 28th for that previous week.

Here is my questions. 1. Did I have to report that previous week of 12-14 through 12/20? As my check date was the 26th.
2. I did get 112.00 for the week of 12/28/14. Now, if I were be found out I were guilty of not reporting 12-14 through 12-20, what would be my potential restitution fine be? I do intend to pay it no matter what as I had no intention of falsely reporting anything and I feel right now I might of been someone that fell victim to the language in the question.
3. It did say that I could be disqualified for up to one year for filing benefits. Now, If I have to pay any restitution and do it in a timely matter, will I be able to file in the future in case of a lay off or week in which I dont get any work.

I do not want to be labeled a criminal and I just need some clarification as I am confused right now because i feel I did answer the questions truthfully. At the same time, I feel like I might of made a honest mistake and fell victim to confusing language. Thanks. By the way I do have a hearing with the adjudicator next Friday.

 

[commentator]

Each time you answer the questions for the certification for benefits, you are answering for the week that has passed, regardless of when you have been paid, or will be paid for it. If you have not yet received your paycheck for this week, you estimate to the best of your ability, how much you WILL be paid for those hours.

ALL weeks of unemployment run from Sunday starting at midnight until the following Saturday starting at midnight. The question is, "Did you work during this week that has just passed, and if so, how much did you make, in gross wages?" If you have not yet been paid, you will need to make your very best estimate of how much the wages will be when they are paid to you.

If you worked 1214/1014 through 12/2-/2014, and made $213.75, you should have reported that money on the certification you made for benefits on 12/21/2014. If you made $112 for the following week, you should have reported that for that week on the 28th. If you were doing bi-weekly certifications, you should have still been specific about the amounts you made and the weeks they made them. They aren't interested in the total amount, but the specific amount you made each Sunday through Saturday week after it has passed.

Unemployment is not about being low income or needy or confused, it's how much you have worked versus how much you drew in benefits. Thus, they don't care about the total for the two weeks, they want to know about each week individually.

You may have misunderstood. Or you may have been deliberately attempting to get pay for a week when you did work because you were going to be held back a week and wouldn't receive a check for a while. It may have been attempted fraud or it may have been a simple case of stupidity. It doesn't make any difference. You were overpaid. You will have to pay the money back, probably with penalties.

If you are signed up for unemployment again, and you haven't yet paid the money back, rest assured they'll get this overpayment money, plus any penalties they've assessed from you from your first few checks on the new claim. After the money is paid back, though, you should be able to go on and begin drawing again.

But the most important thing to do is work with the agency now, don't dodge them or argue with them. Generally, agree with what they say, because they aren't mistaken. Your employer reports your wages, and these are cross matched with the weeks you filed for unemployment bnefits.

You did it, whether you understood what they were telling you or how to report it or not. They don't care whether you confess or admit it or express regret or insist you were confused or whatever. They're just interested in getting their money back.

And if you do cooperate, and you do pay it back promptly, there should be no further issues of criminal liability or banishment from drawing any more benefits for a year or anything of this type. Do not listen to anything anyone outside the system tries to tell you about your claim or how to deal with your overpayment. This is an area where for some reason, lots of people want to spout a lot of things they don't understand about unemployment fraud on the internet. This type of mistake/overpayment is a very common thing to happen, your state's system deals with thousands of these types of overpayments a year, and they will be able to provide you with the most accurate and specific information about what is going on in your particular situation.

Remember, this is NOT a criminal charge levied against you by a prosecutor. This is an agency investigation, and they have the precise information to see what you did. You do NOT need to get a lawyer and stop talking to them, yada yada as some would advise you. Only in cases where they are getting little cooperation or the fraud discovered is quite serious are they ever going to recommend you for prosecution through the court system, at which time you would need an attorney

 

[Jleimer]

Each time you answer the questions for the certification for benefits, you are answering for the week that has passed, regardless of when you have been paid, or will be paid for it. If you have not yet received your paycheck for this week, you estimate to the best of your ability, how much you WILL be paid for those hours.

ALL weeks of unemployment run from Sunday starting at midnight until the following Saturday starting at midnight. The question is, "Did you work during this week that has just passed, and if so, how much did you make, in gross wages?" If you have not yet been paid, you will need to make your very best estimate of how much the wages will be when they are paid to you.

If you worked 1214/1014 through 12/2-/2014, and made $213.75, you should have reported that money on the certification you made for benefits on 12/21/2014. If you made $112 for the following week, you should have reported that for that week on the 28th. If you were doing bi-weekly certifications, you should have still been specific about the amounts you made and the weeks they made them. They aren't interested in the total amount, but the specific amount you made each Sunday through Saturday week after it has passed.

Unemployment is not about being low income or needy or confused, it's how much you have worked versus how much you drew in benefits. Thus, they don't care about the total for the two weeks, they want to know about each week individually.

You may have misunderstood. Or you may have been deliberately attempting to get pay for a week when you did work because you were going to be held back a week and wouldn't receive a check for a while. It may have been attempted fraud or it may have been a simple case of stupidity. It doesn't make any difference. You were overpaid. You will have to pay the money back, probably with penalties.

If you are signed up for unemployment again, and you haven't yet paid the money back, rest assured they'll get this overpayment money, plus any penalties they've assessed from you from your first few checks on the new claim. After the money is paid back, though, you should be able to go on and begin drawing again.

But the most important thing to do is work with the agency now, don't dodge them or argue with them. Generally, agree with what they say, because they aren't mistaken. Your employer reports your wages, and these are cross matched with the weeks you filed for unemployment bnefits.

You did it, whether you understood what they were telling you or how to report it or not. They don't care whether you confess or admit it or express regret or insist you were confused or whatever. They're just interested in getting their money back.

And if you do cooperate, and you do pay it back promptly, there should be no further issues of criminal liability or banishment from drawing any more benefits for a year or anything of this type. Do not listen to anything anyone outside the system tries to tell you about your claim or how to deal with your overpayment. This is an area where for some reason, lots of people want to spout a lot of things they don't understand about unemployment fraud on the internet. This type of mistake/overpayment is a very common thing to happen, your state's system deals with thousands of these types of overpayments a year, and they will be able to provide you with the most accurate and specific information about what is going on in your particular situation.

Remember, this is NOT a criminal charge levied against you by a prosecutor. This is an agency investigation, and they have the precise information to see what you did. You do NOT need to get a lawyer and stop talking to them, yada yada as some would advise you. Only in cases where they are getting little cooperation or the fraud discovered is quite serious are they ever going to recommend you for prosecution through the court system, at which time you would need an attorney

Thanks for the clarification. It sounds like your right from what I am reading as I indeed was misunderstood from what your saying. The 112.00 was the amount I was paid for Unemployment on the 28th so it looks like I will have to pay whatever back plus penalties which I will find out from him. I again do intend to pay whatever restitution asap. So one last question, should I give the adjudicator the call before my phone interview to start a payment plan now or talk to someone in the unemployment department to start this plan?

 

[commentator]

Go on and talk to the caller at the scheduled time. At the present time, they are just doing an investigation of a possible overpayment, you do not have an overpayment set up in the system.

When you speak to them, be very specific about when you worked, answer all their questions honestly and in as much detail as you can. Before you can begin to repay the overpayment, there will have to be an overpayment decision made about exactly how much you are overpaid and whether or not it is a clear cut fraud overpayment.

If you are being very straight and cooperative with them, and especially if you only did this incorrect reporting for a brief week or two and it could feasibly have been because you were confused about how to report this income, they may not give you severe penalties.
They may just let you repay the money you drew in error. They have some leeway at this point.

If you start calling other parts of the department and trying to repay it before you have had an overpayment established, you'll just confuse the issue and everyone concerned.

 

[Jleimer]

Go on and talk to the caller at the scheduled time. At the present time, they are just doing an investigation of a possible overpayment, you do not have an overpayment set up in the system.

When you speak to them, be very specific about when you worked, answer all their questions honestly and in as much detail as you can. Before you can begin to repay the overpayment, there will have to be an overpayment decision made about exactly how much you are overpaid and whether or not it is a clear cut fraud overpayment.

If you are being very straight and cooperative with them, and especially if you only did this incorrect reporting for a brief week or two and it could feasibly have been because you were confused about how to report this income, they may not give you severe penalties.
They may just let you repay the money you drew in error. They have some leeway at this point.

If you start calling other parts of the department and trying to repay it before you have had an overpayment established, you'll just confuse the issue and everyone concerned.

I see. It was just that one week in which I did some incorrect reporting from what your saying because of how I thought they had the question presented itself as did you work during the week of December 21st through 27th which was the week that the gentlemen told me that they are looking at specifically with the 213.75 that you mentioned from 12/14 through 12/20