Waivers, write-offs planned to relieve $1.6B in UI overpayments

Beginning this week, state officials will be in touch with Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Unemployment Insurance claimants who may have received overpayments to detail state and federal relief options to untangle the bureaucratic mess.

The Baker administration said late last week the relief plan would resolve about $1.6 billion or roughly 71% of overpayments.

There are about 353,000 outstanding cases of workers who received more money in joblessness aid than they should have between March 8, 2020, and Jan. 31, 2022, to the tune of a cumulative $2.225 billion, according to the state, which has been working for months to untangle the convoluted situation.

Between two new state efforts and a partial waiver from the U.S. Department of Labor, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, under Secretary Rosalin Acosta, said 287,656 of the 353,000 outstanding overpayment claims can be resolved. That would leave 65,344 claimants with a total of $649 million worth of overpayments still to be ironed out.

The U.S. Department of Labor has partially approved a request from Massachusetts to provide relief for claimants with overpayments related to a change in the rules midway through the program. But rather than signing off on the blanket waiver the state requested, the feds approved relief for only certain weeks of overpaid benefits.

“The practical effect of USDOL’s decision is that most claimants with employment substantiation overpayments will receive partial relief because some weeks of overpayments will be waived. However, very few claimants will receive complete relief, as Massachusetts had requested,” state labor officials said in a press release.

The partial waiver forgives 41% of applicable overpayment dollars but resolves only 656 claims in full, the administration said.

Acosta’s office said it will soon file emergency regulations to expand the grounds for a state-issued overpayment waiver for both PUA and UI overpayments to address claims not resolved by the partial federal waiver. The department said it will pre-qualify eligible claimants for an overpayment waiver and provide a “one-click” option for a person to be granted a waiver.

The expanded state-issued waivers are expected to resolve 154,000 claims worth a total of $782 million. DUA said it will contact eligible claimants directly via email and letters.

For the state-level relief valves, Baker administration plans to file for funding necessary to offset the impact of state-issued UI waivers on the UI Trust Fund and to ensure employers are not adversely impacted by the state’s approach.

— Colin A. Young / SHNS

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/qc2wUIN