55,000 Michigan unemployment claimants receive waivers for overpayment: What it means
More than 55,000 unemployment insurance claimants who received benefits in the pandemic — but were later told they were overpaid — got waivers and will be refunded if they started paying back their overpayment, Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency said Wednesday.
About 327,000 fewer than expected claimants received a waiver. Julia Dale, the director of the agency, told state lawmakers in early April that the agency expected to send out waivers over this past weekend to about 382,000 claimants who received overpayment letters.
The agency said in an emailed news release that fewer waivers went out than expected because additional testing over the last week revealed that the early numbers overlapped with waivers issued last fall by the agency.
The agency said it continues to work with its software vendor FAST Enterprises and the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget to identify other groups of claimants who might also qualify for an overpayment waiver.
Lynda Robinson, a spokesperson for the agency, said she didn't have any estimates on how many claimants may also qualify for a waiver and when they might receive one.
The agency said it doesn't know exactly how many claimants received benefits in the pandemic but were later told they were overpaid benefits through no fault of their own. The waivers apply to claimants who received federal benefits before Sept. 4, 2021, the end date for pandemic unemployment benefits through programs such as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.
The approximately 55,000 claimants who received a waiver represent a total of $431 million in overpayments that they won't have to pay back. That's an average of about $7,800 per claimant that was waived.
The agency also said about $11 million will be refunded to claimants who had been paying back their federal benefits overpayment or it will be applied to any outstanding debt a claimant may have.
To date, the agency said it has waived more than $4.3 billion in overpayment debt for more than 400,000 claimants.
More: Waivers for unemployment claimants who received overpayment letters may come this weekend
More: Waivers for unemployment overpayments could start to roll out by end of the month
Claimants who received waivers had messages posted to their Michigan Web Account Manager (MiWAM) accounts, the agency said, and letters started going out on Monday.
The agency said it has requested an extension from the U.S. Department of Labor of a pause on collection activities such as wage garnishments and interceptions by the State of Michigan. The agency paused "new" wage garnishments and interceptions of State of Michigan tax refunds for 398,000 claimants starting in early April, but that pause expires Saturday.
Contact Adrienne Roberts: amroberts@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 55,000 Michigan unemployment claimants receive overpayment waivers
