Unemployment Overpayment Advice

[bd112]

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

What can I do about an unemployment overpayment?

I figured it out myself while cross checking numbers for my tax return . How can I pay back or am I screwed? Collected from 02/09 - 12/09. While cross checking I realized there are a lot of weeks I was overpaid. I think I may have filed wrong. Basically some weeks have me compensated for 1 more day then I should have been. I assume I should call and find out how to pay it back. Why didn't they see this mistake? Does my employer not send them my time records? I work less then 10 hours a week and make less then $100?
I never checked the logs so I never knew it was happening until now. Looks like $1500 - $2000 in overpayment with maybe 30 weeks of it happening. What should I say when I contact them and will I be accused of fraud even though this was a dumb mistake ? I feel like an idiot that such and oversight occured.
Thanks

 

[pattytx]

Are you comparing the amount received for a given week with your financial determination letter amount? In those weeks you think you were "overpaid" did you report any part-time earnings?

 

[bd112]

Im looking at the days on the history log where it shows how much I was compensated. I was working part time it was either 1 or 2 days a week. And when comparing the weeks I worked against what I now see I was paid a lot of them are off by a day. Basically I was reporting but it seems i was filing wrong. Weeks were I worked 2 days show i was compensated like I worked 1 day. Could this be my mistake ? Or could something else have happened ?

 

[pattytx]

Something else could have happened and it might not be an error at all.

As an example, last year I was receving the max in UI benefits in my (now) state of PA. I was working a temp gig with no paid time off, so when the company was closed for a company holiday, I filed a claim. Because of the amount of my weekly benefit in relation to the hourly rate I was being paid for that job, I actually made MORE during that week than if I had worked 40 hours instead of 32.

I don't know what the continued claim for benefits form looks like in NY, but in my state, it asks only for the amount of earnings in a week, not the amount of hours also.

 

[bd112]

The form asks how many days during the week have you worked and your rate is based on that.
I am wondering how come the state didn't pick up on this. I would assume my employer submits my hours to the state ? If so they would see the 2 days I worked and compare up against the 1 day that was claimed. I am sure these were overpayments after doing some research, I'm just not sure how it happened and what to do about it. This was happening almost the entire 40 weeks i claimed. I have no problem paying the money back, as it was not mine to get, I just don't want them to think i was fraudulently filing.

 

[cbg]

Here's where you are making your mistake in reasoning:

In every state for which I have ever had employees, which I admit does not include NY but which is still probably half the states, the employer does not submit hours on each individual employee on a weekly basis. Rather, on a quarterly basis, the employer submits aggregate wages earned by each employee. There is nothing to say in which week or even which month they were earned, and nothing to indicate how many hours were worked, only that the employee earned $xxxx.xx in that particular quarter.

 

[bd112]

Thanks for your response. So could the fact that I make so little every week (less the 100) not set off any red flags ? And could that be why they did not figure out the mistakes as well ?
I am still going to contact them and let them know the mistake so I can pay it back, but was just concerned on myself not picking up on it earlier.

 

[cbg]

Yes, it's possible. It's quite possible that the state will yet still pick it up. It's also possible that there is a factor you do not know that means it wasn't an error at all.

By all means contact the state and see what they say.

 

[commentator]

I do not think you are overpaid. If you were, it would come out in the quarterly report filed by your employer. Several of the quarters you are worried about are already in. The system automatically cross-matches wages submitted against your social security number with unemployment benefits drawn under your sociail security number. You should have been contacted long before now if the system picked up an o.p.

Okay, each of those weeks you believe yourself to be overpayed, you worked and made a small amount of money. This does not automatically mean your check is reduced. You probably did not approach the allowed amount. Not sure what it is in New York, in my very low benefits state it's about $80 in a week. It is possible you will have weeks in which you made say, $95 working, and drew your full $300 in unemployment benefits. So your income for that week was $395. That's not an overpayment, that's fully legal and not fraud.

In any week, if you had some work, and you report it as it is, gross wages, it has to be over a certain amount, or it is NOT deducted from your unemployment check, does not affect the check at all. In other words, if you are allowed to make the first (hypothetically) $100 and if you reported you made $105, then your regular weekly amount would only be reduced by $5. The system makes this calculation. You do not need to, as long as you reported the correct amount you made working in the week, they'll tell you how much your check is supposed to be for that week.

When your weekly benefit amount is reduced due to earnings for a week, that money does not go away. It stays in your account, allowing you to possibly draw more weeks of benefits than you were told at first. The regular claim sets up for $XXX a week for XX weeks, OR $XXXXX for the whole benefit year.

If I were you, I'd call them, and go over it with them, but for goodness sake, don't be stupid and decide you have an overpayment and start trying to give them money back when you DO NOT. If you get an inexperienced person, they may misunderstand what you're saying, thinking you are trying to tell them you commited fraud and worked hours in these weeks that you did not report.

As long as you reported the hours, then you do not look at these weeks on a check by check basis and say, "Oh I was overpaid one day for this week, I was overpaid for one days' work this week." That's just not how it works. You reported the gross wages you made for one week at a time. You were set up to draw so much a week, for so many weeks. You are not compensated by unemployment for days not worked on a day by day basis, but by gross amount of earnings you reported for the whole week, Sunday through Saturday.

You report "I made $105 working this week" The system says, "He is allowed to make $100 before it counts." Okay, then they send you a weekly check that has been reduced by anything OVER that $100 that you made. So if you usually drew $300 as your weekly benefit, you would be supposed to receive $295. That $5 they reduced it by goes back in the pot of your total claim amount.

At the end of the year, you received a statement of your total earnings you made on Unemployment last year. Don't sit down with your checks and try to say you were overpaid based on how many days you worked on each of these weeks. It appears to me you were NOT overpaid.

Your website or claim information you received from the state when you filed will have the information about how much you are allowed to make before it affects your claim at all, but I'll bet it's somewhere around $100-$150 in your state.

 

[bd112]

I understand what you are saying. My only concern is in New York when you file you have to state how many days during the week you worked, not what you made. And based on the amount of days you worked is what you are compensated. If you make more then $405 a week you get nothing.
Now my statements are showing the say in week A I worked 1 day and received money for 3 days of compensation. When actually I know what I worked 2 days and should have only received the money for 2 days of not working. The system in NY is based on a 4 days. Basically from looking at it, some weeks make it look like I claimed 1 day when I actually worked 2.

 

[cbg]

I, too, think it is likely that you were not overpaid. But I also think that you're not going to feel right about it until you contact the state and have them explain to you why.

 

[commentator]

You definitely need to talk to your state system. If I were you, I would call someone, and ask about this, but whatever you do, do not start off saying, "I have been overpaid, I need to pay this money back!" Make sure you explain that you have a question about why you have been paid as much as what you have been paid for several weeks of your claim this last year. Do not immediately try to admit to any wrongdoing, since you didn't do anything wrong. Good luck. Like I said, I'm pretty sure you are okay, won't have to pay anything back.