Hearing Next Week/Please Help!

[EEMVT]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

I moved to Pennylvania from Virginia in March of 2001. I was working in VA till then and then began a job in PA and was laid off in January of 2002. I called unemployment in Pennsylvania and they asked that I send them pay stubs from my job in PA and VA and they could tell me what I could qualify for. I did.

I collected unemployment for 2 and half months before I found another job. In October of last year, I received a letter from PA Unemployment stating that I had collected illegally and needed to pay them back the amount given (approx. $4,000).

I called them and was told that the reason that I was sent that was because it seemed that I had collected from both PA and VA, which was NOT the case. An PA unemployment officer even said that I had not collected from VA but to go ahead and send in the appeal stating that. I did.

In addition, I called VA unemployment and requested that they fax me over a letter stating that I had not collected from them. Their reponse was that PA had the same database and therefore could see that I had not.

At any rate, my hearing for my appeal is set for next week and I have no shred of documentation to support my findings.

What can I do??? Any help will be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Beth3]

I don't know that there's anything you can do. The PA UC Division has requested the hearing so the burden of proof is on them to demonstrate that you collected benefits illegally/incorrectly. You don't have to prove your "innocence," they have to prove benefits were incorrectly or fraudulently paid. Since you don't have access to the States' UC databases, I don't see what documentation you would be able to bring to hearing.