Do I owe unemployment money to NYS Department of Labor - confused about overpayment notice
Got this notice in the mail yesterday saying I might owe money back to unemployment but I'm really confused about what it means. The letter mentions something about 'potential overpayment determination' but doesn't give clear details about why or how much. I've been getting regular UI payments for about 8 weeks now and I thought everything was fine. I always report my part-time work hours correctly on my weekly claims. Does anyone know what triggers these notices? Should I be worried about having to pay money back? I really can't afford to owe the NYS Department of Labor anything right now.
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Kingston Bellamy
These notices are pretty common, don't panic yet. NYS Department of Labor sends out potential overpayment letters when they're reviewing claims for accuracy. It could be something simple like a reporting discrepancy or a delay in processing your work hours. The key word here is 'potential' - they haven't determined you actually owe anything yet. You should have received information about how to respond or provide additional documentation. Check if there's a response deadline on the notice.
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Morita Montoya
•Thank you! Yes there's a 10-day response period mentioned. What kind of documentation should I gather?
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Joy Olmedo
I had this exact situation happen 6 months ago. Turned out the NYS Department of Labor hadn't properly processed my part-time earnings from 3 weeks earlier, so their system flagged it as unreported income. I had to send in my pay stubs and the work search log to prove I reported everything correctly. Once they reviewed it, the overpayment notice was dismissed. Make sure you have copies of all your weekly claim certifications and any pay stubs from work you reported.
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Morita Montoya
•That's exactly what I'm worried about! I do have all my pay stubs saved, so hopefully it's just a processing delay like yours was.
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Isaiah Cross
If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to clarify this, I recently discovered this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helps people actually reach unemployment agents by phone. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. I used it last month when I couldn't get through about my claim status and it was super helpful - got connected to an actual person who could explain my situation. Might be worth checking out if you need to talk to someone about this overpayment notice.
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Kiara Greene
•How does that even work? I've been trying to call for weeks about my own issues.
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Isaiah Cross
•It basically handles the calling process for you so you don't have to sit on hold forever. Way less frustrating than trying to get through on your own.
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Evelyn Kelly
ugh the system is so broken... I got one of these letters too and it turned out THEY made the mistake not me!! took 3 months to sort out and meanwhile im stressing about money i dont even owe. definitely respond to the notice though, ignoring it will make things worse
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Morita Montoya
•Three months?? That sounds awful. Did you end up owing anything in the end?
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Evelyn Kelly
•nope, nothing. they admitted they miscalculated my benefits. but those 3 months were hell waiting for them to fix it
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Paloma Clark
Same thing here - got the scary letter but it was just their computer system being dumb. As long as you've been honest about your work and reporting everything on your weekly claims you should be fine.
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