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The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) handles unemployment benefits. There was a court case against the UIA that settled in June 2024. As part of the settlement, the UIA has to give money back to people it wrongly collected from. The UIA will also make several big changes going forward. Read this article to learn more.
Getting Money Back from the UIA If It Collected from You While You Appealed or Tried to Appeal
Sometimes, after people get unemployment, the UIA sends an overpayment notice. An overpayment happens when someone gets more unemployment than they should have gotten. If someone has an overpayment, the UIA tries to collect back the money it overpaid.
As part of a recent court case, the UIA agreed to return money they collected improperly.
If you filed for unemployment from March 1, 2020, through April 25, 2024, and the UIA collected money from you improperly, you may be eligible for a payment from a class action settlement. Improper collection means the UIA made you pay them when any one of the following things was true:
You had an active protest or appeal;
You tried to protest or appeal but could not access services; or
You filed a protest or appeal but the UIA did not process it.
If the UIA improperly collected from you, you will get a postcard or email with a claim number and PIN. Use that information to submit a claim here by Friday, November 4, 2024. For more information or if you did not get a claim number and PIN, you can visit bwclassactions.com , email info@bwclassactions.com , or call 1-866-499-4565.
The UIA Must Stop Trying to Collect Some Pandemic Unemployment Overpayments
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government changed the unemployment laws and made it easier to get unemployment. Unfortunately, the UIA did not always follow the new laws. The UIA wrongly denied benefits to many people. The UIA made other people pay back unemployment benefits they received. Now the UIA has agreed to do several things to fix the situation and help people who were affected.
The UIA Was Supposed to Let People Appeal Unemployment Decisions, Even if People Did not File the Appeal on Time
Usually, if you disagree with a notice about unemployment insurance, you have 30 days to protest or appeal. After the deadline, you can only appeal if you have “good cause.”
However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the deadline was temporarily lifted. People could file appeals at any time. However, the UIA denied many protests or appeals during this time just for being late.
The UIA must consider your protest or appeal if:
You protested or appealed a denial issued between April 23, 2020, and January 25, 2022; and
Your protest or appeal was denied just for being late.
If this applies to you, the UIA cannot collect money from you unless it sends a new notice that gives a different reason you owe money. They cannot deny your protest or appeal just for being late. They also must stop collecting payments while they consider your appeal.
The UIA Was Not Supposed to Deny Pandemic Unemployment Just because Someone was Not Able and Available to Work
One of the usual requirements to get unemployment benefits is that you must be “able and available” for full-time work
However, the laws changed so that people who couldn’t work because of the COVID-19 pandemic were still allowed to get unemployment. This was called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). It included:
People who could not work because they or someone in their household had COVID-19;
People who could not work because they had a high risk of COVID-19; and
Parents who could not work because they had to care for their children whose schools were closed.
Unfortunately, the UIA often still denied people PUA because they were not able and available for work.
The UIA must consider your protest or appeal if all of the following are true:
You were getting Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA);
The decision denying benefits was dated between March 1, 2020 and February 1, 2024; and
The reason for the denial was that you were not able and available to work.
If this applies to you, the UIA cannot collect money from you while they decide the appeal unless it sends a new notice that gives a different reason you owe money.
Getting a Waiver for an Overpayment
An overpayment happens when the UIA gives you money you were not actually eligible for. The UIA may try to collect money from you to pay it back.
If this happens, you can ask for a waiver. Getting a waiver means that even though the UIA still thinks you owe money they will not try to collect from you. The UIA must give your waiver if:
You got too much money from the UIA because you accidentally gave the wrong wage information when you applied for benefits, and your employer either gave the wrong wage information or no wage information;
The UIA paid you too much because they made a mistake calculating or doing paperwork on your case; or
You were at or below 150% of the federal poverty line during the six months before applying for the waiver.
The UIA used to have stricter rules that made it harder to get a waiver. From now on, the UIA must waive overpayments for people who fit into one of the three categories above.
You can apply for a waiver any time after the UIA decides they overpaid you, even if the UIA has already started collecting from you. When you apply for a waiver, the UIA will pause collecting from you while you wait for a decision.
New Rules to Protect a Fair Process if the UIA Wants to Collect Money
From now on, the UIA must give people more time and information before it starts collecting. They have to wait at least 30 days after the protest or appeal deadline before making people pay back money. The UIA also has to tell you about your right to protest or appeal, and to apply for a waiver.
If you protest or appeal before the deadline, the UIA will not collect any money from you until they make a final decision in the case. If you protest or appeal within 30 days after the deadline, the UIA will decide if you had good cause for your late protest or appeal before it starts to collect money from you. You can visit the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Opportunity website for more information about how to protest or appeal a UIA decision.