LANSING, Mich. — The headaches continue for a bunch of Michiganders who applied for unemployment assistance during the pandemic, got benefits and then were told to pay the money back.
Months later, they still can’t get a straight answer on what to do and/or if they’ll have to pay.
“I understand there are people who take advantage of the system, but I'm not one of them. I work hard and I know I’m not alone,” says Shellye Holt, 64, of Garden City.
Unfortunately this is the reality for thousands of Michiganders like Shellye, 64, who at no fault of their own are being asked to pay the UIA, after the agency made mistakes and overpaid billions in unemployment.
— Aaron Parseghian (@AaronParseghian) January 24, 2022
UIA says Shellye owes them $7k, after she lost her job in 2020: pic.twitter.com/6EX9KNKpwy
Holt is not alone, she is one of thousands of Michiganders who are wondering what can be done.
“I get a letter stating that I owe them for my unemployment that I collected in 2020 plus any unemployment I had collected in 2021, which was about $7,000,” Holt explained.
She says it happened after a computer glitch, when she was completing an online form to enter her employment history for a part-time contracted job she got.
“I had to refresh it to get the form to work and then when I refreshed it a message comes up, ‘Thank you for submitting your form’ and I'm like, I didn't submit it. I didn't fill it out,” said Holt. “So right then I call two or three different people, customer service at the unemployment and they said, well, that's just too bad. Once it's submitted, you have to go through with the system,” Holt added. A log-jammed system at that.
Holt filed a protest and is waiting to hear back, in the meantime she’s without a job and locked out of applying for future benefits.
“It won't even let you protest or appeal their decision. It just says disqualified,” she added.
Holt’s not the only one waiting for answers either.
Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency made mistakes and according to an audit, ultimately, overpaid more than $8 billion in improper benefits.
Though that money wasn’t just going to those scamming the system, many were real people who believed they were doing the right thing and trying to stay afloat. People like Shellye or Bonnie VanSledright.
“I could have lost my house, I could have lost my car. So I’m very grateful for unemployment,” said VanSledright.
In February of 2021, VanSledright was told to re-apply for the unemployment benefits she first got when she was laid off from her job in the spring of 2020. She says the online process to do, was confusing because of some strange questions.
“I actually ended up calling in and I was able to speak to an agent at the unemployment agency. And she walked through the questions with me and actually inputted my answers on her end and completed the application process. Which was fine until…April when I received notification of a new determination, which stated that I had voluntarily quit my job my part time job that I was working, which was not true,” VanSledright explained.
She says an error by the worker led to her being disqualified. The UIA says she has to pay back more than $25,000, the full amount of money she received. She protested the decision, but it’s now 2022 and she’s still waiting for a decision on her protest.
“I'm being asked to pay back everything, which is even more frustrating because it's been 10 months and my protest is still in progress when I log into my account. Nothing's been addressed, it still has that I owe $25,000 when I log into my account and it just puts a lot of fear inside of me,” she added.
The UIA has a website explaining their error that caused the overpayment problem and how folks can go about protesting a decision, but the backlog is so big there’s still a ton of people like Bonnie with dark clouds and thousands of dollars hanging over their heads.
“I'm still having to worry about it, even though I'm completely happy at my full time job. Now, I still have to worry and think about this and it's very stressful and frustrating,” VanSledright added.
When asked about the ongoing issues, Michigan UIA’s Communications Manager Nick Assendelft said, “UIA staff is working diligently to help claimants with their cases. Understand that each case is unique and can be complicated to adjudicate. Since March 2020, we’ve experienced an unprecedented number of claims and our staff continues to work through our backlog. We have paid out more than $39 billion to more than 3.3 million claimants since that time.”
