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Tennessee Unemployment Investigation

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scared119

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN

I just received a letter stating that I'd been audited and they believe I'd been over paid for 16 weeks in 2011. This is correct. I'm not trying to get out of paying this money back. There's no excuses. The overpayment was $4400, plus penalties I believe it will be around $6000 or so.
I spoke with someone in the Benefit Control office and she stated that they have a table - that I would have to pay back $350/month once I get my determination letter. Since I'm only working part-time, there is no way I can afford this.
Has anyone else been through this in TN? I moved to TX in 2013, I don't know how that complicates things.

Will they lower the monthly payment amount if I cannot afford it?
Will I go to jail?
Will I have a misdemeanor?

Any information any of you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!
 


commentator

Senior Member
Oh boy, oh boy, sweetie you are singing my song here. I am quite familiar with your state here and your overpayments. But listen, first of all, cooperate with them as fully as is possible. Call them back and tell them you just do not have the money to pay them back at this rate. Ask them for a waiver, based upon your current income and financial situation.

Be just as nice as pie, but reallly, they are used to working with people who're sort of poor and sort of unemployed. It's a legitimate issue, and they don't care anything about sending you to debtors prison, they just want their money back.

To get a waiver, you will have to provide intimate full details of all your income, including the income of anyone else in your household, bills, etc. but be sure you tell them you are very willing to cooperate, and that you do not have enough income at the present time to pay as much as they are asking for. Your income situation is this.... and tell them, in great detail. The form will have all sorts of questions on it about how much money you have, including how much money you have in your pocket right now. Don't be coy, Roy, send them the verified information. They will find out if you fudge it a bit, I promise.

But regarding your other questions, right now, you are dealing with the agency only. You are not dealing with the criminal justice system. If you cooperate, go out of your way to work with these people, you should never be charged with anything regarding the courts. You'll just have had a fraud overpayment in unemployment insurance, and they'll be the agency that works it out with you, and no it will not go on your criminal record and no you do not have to tell anyone you have ever been convicted of or charged with any crime. This will not even show up in background or credit checks. IF you work it out with them.

Call them back when you get your overpayment determination, IMMEDIATELY. They recommend for prosecution those who skip them, avoid them, dissemble, hire an attorney to fight them, etc. Don't piss them off. Request an overpayment waiver based on your current situation financially. Explain to them what is going on with you right now financially. Throw yourself on their mercy. Tell them you can't pay $xxx, but you might could pay $ xx and you are willing to do so.

One thing for sure. DO NOT " overpromise" in other words, do not swear on a stack of Bibles that you will pay $200 a month, and then default on it. That's going to get you prosecuted. Set that repayment schedule low, and faithfully keep it up till you get this covered, and you won't get in trouble unless you are stupid enough to do it again, capisce?
 
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scared119

Junior Member
one more question...

Wow, I cannot thank you enough for your reply. Just one more question, if it's not too much trouble. Since you are so familiar with this - while on paper it looks like I could pay the $350/month, once you add in things like groceries and gas, it's unaffordable. Do they take things like that into consideration? For example - I might have, say, $1000 left after bills but after feeding 5 people for a month its more like just a few hundred, plus gas, etc etc. Just wondering if that's something they look at. I'm happy to give their money back, just need it to be lower.

Again thank you SO much for your reply!!
 

commentator

Senior Member
When you request a waiver, they'll have you sign paperwork giving them access to your financial information, all of it. You'll list everyone in your family and any income, assets, real property, every monthly expense, every source of income. And then they'll make a decision based on this information. They'll compare your real income with the federal poverty level guidelines, the 120% of poverty level guidelines, the average income of families of your size, everything they can look at.

They'll verify everything, so thus I say do not try to fudge on this information one bit. Much of what happens at this point is up to their discretion, and you don't need them to get the impression you're trying to cheat or lie or get away with anything. Yes, I can certainly understand that you have a lot of expenses to eat up your discretionary income. However, always remember that, as we used to say in social services work, anybody can arrange to spend more money than they're bringing in.

If they look at your income information, what's coming in, what's going out, how many people you are supporting, etc., and decide your standard of living is too high, that you could pay this amount if you cut back a little on what you are spending in other areas, they might deny the waiver and request that you repay the standard amount given on their charts. But work with them, ask for help, negotiate, and try to work it out so you can get this money paid back without further problems.
 
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