EDD CA - fighting a disagreement

[DarkFrost]

Hello All-

My wife had unemployment insurance in CA about 3 years back. About a year after she was back to work, EDD sent mail saying they had overpaid her. She disputed and had documentation to back her up. Because EDD is purposely underfunded, getting hold of someone on the phone is next to impossible. So she duly put in her paperwork by mail and got back a letter essentially saying, tough, you owe us. Well, she tried to reach someone as her job allowed, and never did. She sent in another round of documented protest, and got back the same form letter declining to change their decision. At the time we couldn't pay what they said she owed, and over the next few years they kept tacking on fees and never responding to anything except by form letter. So today I find EDD just stole our refund, and I think to date they've jacked up the fees to around 8000.00. We don't live in the state as of last year, November.

Is there anyway to get EDD to see they were in error, and have all fees and penalties dropped? And the monies they've claimed from our refund?

If there isn't, and since there's no way in heck we'll ever be able to afford what they say we owe, what do we do? I'm unemployed, now I'm afraid they'll try to take my unemployment. Any suggestions on how to approach this. Are there people that work on your behalf to intercede between us and the EDD? I just feel sick about this, and it comes on the heels of all sorts of bad news. Thanks.

 

[davew128]

I'll only say that dealing with EDD is a pain under any circumstances, in part due to the fact that English does not seem to be the primary language of most of their agents (guess which one is...) and that because so many people play the system, their attitude is fairly rude. Worse, some of the penalties are pretty draconian and some of the penalties (regarding payroll taxes) don't even non-judicial due process rights.

Your best bet is to find a local office and go in person.

 

[aldaron]

Guru named commentator will be along to chime in. It would be well worth your time to check back because he/she knows all about UI.

 

[Nellibelle]

Hello All-

My wife had unemployment insurance in CA about 3 years back. About a year after she was back to work, EDD sent mail saying they had overpaid her. She disputed and had documentation to back her up. Because EDD is purposely underfunded, getting hold of someone on the phone is next to impossible. So she duly put in her paperwork by mail and got back a letter essentially saying, tough, you owe us. Well, she tried to reach someone as her job allowed, and never did. She sent in another round of documented protest, and got back the same form letter declining to change their decision. At the time we couldn't pay what they said she owed, and over the next few years they kept tacking on fees and never responding to anything except by form letter. So today I find EDD just stole our refund, and I think to date they've jacked up the fees to around 8000.00. We don't live in the state as of last year, November.

Is there anyway to get EDD to see they were in error, and have all fees and penalties dropped? And the monies they've claimed from our refund?

If there isn't, and since there's no way in heck we'll ever be able to afford what they say we owe, what do we do? I'm unemployed, now I'm afraid they'll try to take my unemployment. Any suggestions on how to approach this. Are there people that work on your behalf to intercede between us and the EDD? I just feel sick about this, and it comes on the heels of all sorts of bad news. Thanks.

You will deal with your issues and EDD quicker if you go online to EDD.ca.gov (ask EDD). By emailing them questions about your issues, they usually respond within 2 business days! Perhaps they can point you to some kind of a process in which you can appeal their unjust decisions concerning your alleged 'overpayments'. Good luck to you!

 

[commentator]

Enough of this poor pitiful me the taxpayer, we have to fight the government, perhaps you can appeal this terrible unjust....**************

About a year ago, she received the notice of overpayment. There are usually no good appeals of overpayments, because the system pretty much has all the information, all the wages paid, has the information about exactly when the person was overpaid, where they went to work, how much they were paid, etc etc. I am curious as to what appeal you folks had, other than "I didn't do it."?

Let me stress, they don't make many mistakes, because they have payroll records with dates worked for every California tax paying employer, which they cross match with the people receiving benefits. When they catch someone working and drawing, they're very likely correct, regardless of what your understanding of how to report it was. Unless there was an error made in the employer's payroll reports, and you have documentation that shows there was such an error, it's very unlikely they made a mistake by determining you overpaid. Thousands of people get overpaid all the time. Two or three out of that thousands might have an appeal that there was a reporting error in the wages shown.

There is also a difference between a "non fraud" overpayment, which is someone is first approved for benefits, then the employer appeals and they are later denied. They'll owe back those benefits they've received, but it is not attempted fraud. Those overpayments are not penalized or dealt with as seriously. But if the overpayment was due to something like your wife filing for benefits the first weeks after she had already gone back to work, because she wasn't getting paid yet, that's still an overpayment, and it's considered a fraud overpayment, which means there was a lack of understanding, either deliberate or accidental, of how to report the weeks and claim benefits. Either way, it's still fraud. You'd still have an overpayment.

What type of overpayment did your wife get, how did she get it, and what was your argument that she was not overpaid? If you'd dealt with this at the beginning more proactively, maybe we could've worked on this, but as I said, there is very little chance they're going to accept your reasoning and see her as not being overpaid, particularly if she was according to their stipulations.

But, enough said, then your wife "tried to get back with them, around her work schedule as it allowed" I'm sure she did, but apparently she never got in touch with them. She gets back a letter saying "Tough, you owe us." At that point, there is no more appeal. Your appeal, which you made and sent in was denied. By the way, what did it say?

The overpayment stands. You are allowed two overpayment appeals.

You send in another round of paperwork, they do not agree with it, send you another denial. They are required by law to send the denial letters by mail. You cannot talk to one of the regular claims takers in their system and do any good arguing about an overpayment. If there is a number anywhere on the "form" letters you received, it would be to the Fraud Investigation Unit, whatever they call it there. They aren't generally as hard to access as the regular system, as they are specialized.

Because you couldn't pay the money back, you stopped responding to them. You hoped they had not noticed you. But if you had managed to get hold of them, even by letter if you had to, they would probably have worked with you to set up a repayment program, or even possibly, if you really were low income and couldn't pay the money back, they might issue you a waiver of repayment. But you moved to another state. You hoped it was over.

Hiring an attorney at this point would be useless, you don't need an intercessor to work with the unemployment system now, you needed to work with them a couple of years ago. Right now, your wife just has an outstanding overpayment on the books. Unless you get the notice that they have actually turned your wife's case over to the civil court system and are legally prosecuting her for unemployment fraud. They could, if they want to, elect to do that. At that point, you hire a lawyer.

Until then, you can't just keep arguing you don't owe the money, and you can't run or hide or ignore this overpayment, or guess what? They'll take your state or federal tax refund! They'll take any fees or monies you try to pay to the state, such as registration fees, etc. But since you don't live in that state, maybe it won't be an issue. They can, if they wish to, garnish your wages, or go through the interstate system to collect from another state, though I strongly doubt they'd do this with YOUR unemployment about your wife's overpayment. But they could do it if your wife gets laid off and tries to file for benefits again.

Did the refund money they got cover your wife's overpayment? If so, you're off the hook. If not, I honestly would contact them at this point, and as I said, forget the regular call-in system, go only for the unit that is working the fraud case, and try to request a waiver or set up some sort of overpayment repayment plan.

Do not keep trying to play the "it's so hard to get hold of these people!" excuse. There's somebody getting through, if all the phones are always busy, and a concentrated effort would get your attorney through if you hired one, (for which they'd be charging you for the time spent on the phone) and you can do that yourself. It's not going to go away unless you deal with it.