How do I know if I owe unemployment overpayment to NYS Department of Labor?
I've been getting this nagging feeling that something might be wrong with my unemployment payments from last year. I worked part-time while collecting benefits and I'm worried I might not have reported everything correctly. How can I check if I owe money back to NYS Department of Labor? Is there a way to see if there's an overpayment on my account before they send me one of those scary notices? I've heard horror stories about people owing thousands back and I want to get ahead of this if there's a problem.
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Theodore Nelson
You can check your payment history and any overpayment status by logging into your my.ny.gov account and going to the NYS Department of Labor unemployment services section. Look for 'Payment History' or 'Benefit Determinations' - any overpayments will show up there with the amount and reason. If you see an overpayment listed, there should also be information about how to appeal it if you disagree.
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Carmella Fromis
•Thank you! I'll check that right now. Should I be looking for anything specific in the payment history?
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AaliyahAli
ugh this happened to me last year, got a notice saying i owed $2800 because apparently i didnt report some work correctly. the worst part is they dont always catch it right away so you think everything is fine then BAM huge bill
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Carmella Fromis
•That's exactly what I'm afraid of! Did you end up having to pay it all back?
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AaliyahAli
•still paying it back in installments, they work with you on payment plans at least
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Ellie Simpson
The key thing to look for is if your weekly certifications match what you actually earned. NYS Department of Labor cross-references with employer wage reports, so if there's a discrepancy that's usually where overpayments come from. In your my.ny.gov account, you can also request a detailed benefit statement that shows exactly what was paid out and any adjustments. If you think you might owe money, it's better to contact them proactively rather than wait for them to contact you.
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Arjun Kurti
•How long do they usually take to catch these discrepancies? I'm in a similar situation and wondering if I'm in the clear since it's been 8 months.
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Ellie Simpson
•They have up to 3 years to establish an overpayment, but most are caught within the first year when quarterly wage reports come in from employers.
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Raúl Mora
If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to check on this, I used a service called Claimyr that helped me get connected to an actual person. You can check it out at claimyr.com - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Really saved me hours of calling and getting busy signals when I needed to resolve an overpayment issue.
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Margot Quinn
•Never heard of that before, does it actually work?
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Raúl Mora
•Yeah it worked for me, got through to someone in like 20 minutes instead of spending all day calling.
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Evelyn Kim
Also keep in mind that if you do owe money, you have appeal rights. Don't just accept an overpayment determination if you think it's wrong. You have 30 days from the notice date to file an appeal with supporting documentation.
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Isaac Wright
I was in a similar situation last year and the anxiety was terrible! One thing that really helped me was calling the Overpayment Unit directly at 1-888-209-8124. They can tell you right over the phone if there's any overpayment on your account without you having to wait for a notice. The hold times can be long but it's worth it for peace of mind. Also, if you do find out you owe money, ask about a waiver - sometimes if it was their error or there were extenuating circumstances, they'll waive part or all of the overpayment.
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Keisha Robinson
•That's really helpful, thank you! I didn't know there was a direct number for the Overpayment Unit. The waiver option is something I hadn't heard about either - do you know what kind of documentation they typically want to see for a waiver request?
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