How to get rid of unemployment overpayment notice from NYS Department of Labor?

You have options to fight this! First, you can request a waiver if you can prove the overpayment wasn't your fault or that paying it back would cause financial hardship. You can also appeal the overpayment determination if you believe it's incorrect. The appeal must be filed within 30 days of the notice date. Gather all your documentation - pay stubs, weekly claim confirmations, any correspondence with NYS Department of Labor. If you reported the work but made an honest mistake about hours, that's different than intentionally hiding income.

I went through this exact same thing last year. NYS Department of Labor sent me an overpayment notice for $3,200 because they said I didn't meet the job search requirements during a certain period. I appealed it and also requested a waiver. The key is to be very detailed in your explanation about what happened. I had to provide bank statements, work schedules, and proof that I was actively looking for work. It took about 4 months but they ended up reducing my overpayment to $800 and let me set up a payment plan.

honestly the overpayment system is such BS. they make it so confusing to report part time work correctly and then penalize you when you mess up. i had a friend who got an overpayment notice 2 years after the fact! like how are you supposed to remember exactly what you reported that long ago??

If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to discuss your overpayment options, I used a service called Claimyr that helped me reach an actual agent. You can check it out at claimyr.com - they have a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. I was stuck in phone tree hell for weeks trying to get answers about my overpayment appeal status until I found them. Made the whole process way less stressful.

Whatever you do, don't ignore it! I made that mistake and they automatically started taking money out of my tax refund. File something even if you're not sure - at least it shows you're trying to resolve it.

I'm going through something similar right now with a $1,900 overpayment notice. From what I've learned, you should definitely file both the appeal AND the waiver request - they're separate processes that can run simultaneously. The appeal challenges whether the overpayment is correct, while the waiver asks for forgiveness even if it is correct. Make sure you have copies of all your weekly certifications showing you DID report the work. I found mine in my online account under "Payment History" - it shows exactly what you reported each week. Also document any technical issues you had with the system or confusing instructions. The fact that you reported the work but maybe got the hours wrong is actually a strong point in your favor for a waiver since it shows good faith effort to comply.

Carlos, I went through almost the exact same situation last year - $2,650 overpayment for underreporting part-time hours during a 4-week period. Like you, I had reported the work but miscalculated the hours on a couple weeks. Here's what worked for me: I immediately filed both an appeal AND a waiver request (as Harper mentioned, they're separate processes). For the appeal, I gathered my pay stubs, bank deposits, and screenshots of my weekly certifications showing I DID report income every week. For the waiver, I focused on proving it was an honest mistake - I wrote a detailed letter explaining how I calculated hours (I was mixing up gross vs net hours worked) and provided evidence of my good faith efforts. The key thing that helped was showing a pattern of consistent reporting with just computational errors, not hiding income. It took 3 months, but they reduced it to $650 and let me do a 12-month payment plan at $54/month. Don't panic - the fact that you reported the work puts you in a much better position than people who didn't report at all.