Michigan unemployment agency will give workers waivers for overpaid federal benefits

Adrienne Roberts, Detroit Free Press
·2 min read

Workers under fire recently from the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency for overpayments to them of federal benefits during the pandemic will now receive a waiver, the state said Friday.

The move came two days after the Detroit Free Press highlighted that certain people who received Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits were accused of misreporting their income and were to repay the excess benefits they had received. When those claimants appealed the decision and the case went before a judge, agency representatives said the claimants were liable because they had entered their gross pay from prior years to determine their weekly benefit amount when they should have entered their net pay.

Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency attached a screenshot to a request for an amended order to an administrative law judge that shows two unanswered questions and the words "net income." Claimants say this is altered.
Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency attached a screenshot to a request for an amended order to an administrative law judge that shows two unanswered questions and the words "net income." Claimants say this is altered.

In the report on Wednesday, the Free Press showed that in at least some of the cases, the mistake was the state's and not the claimants'. Screenshots from some who received benefits and instructional videos posted by the agency show it actually had asked for total pay, not net pay. The agency, in its news release Friday, said the issue was due to "unclear instructions regarding gross earnings versus net earnings."

Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency asked for the "total dollar amount of self-employed or contract worker income," not net pay, according to a screenshot of an instructional video posted by the agency to YouTube on April 13, 2020.
Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency asked for the "total dollar amount of self-employed or contract worker income," not net pay, according to a screenshot of an instructional video posted by the agency to YouTube on April 13, 2020.

"We won’t stop fighting until we’ve corrected past mistakes made by this agency so that not one innocent Michigander will face consequences as a result of asking for help they needed," Julia Dale, the director of Michigan's UIA, said in the release.

More: Michigan Unemployment agency says claimants made big mistake. Claimants say UIA is lying

More: Attorney for jobless claimants asks judge to stop Michigan from garnishing their wages

The news release didn't give an estimate as to how long it might take to issue waivers.

The U.S. Department of Labor issued guidance to states in February on how to address overpayments when the claimant is not at fault. It specifically said states could apply blanket waivers for overpayments for claimants who were approved for a higher weekly benefit amount than what they should have received. But the agency continued to fight back against claimants who argued they didn't misreport their income. They weren't told by Michigan's UIA until Friday that they would receive a waiver.

Some claimants have received a waiver. Three months after the U.S. Department of Labor guidance was issued, the first group of blanket waivers went out to 55,000 claimants. Meanwhile, a pause on "new" wage garnishments and interceptions of state of Michigan tax refunds for 398,000 claimants expired on May 7.

Contact Adrienne Roberts: amroberts@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan won't require unemployment paybacks for overpayment