PA UC showing unexplained overpayment after months of not claiming - also confused about waiting week issue

The overpayment could be from your previous benefit period. PA UC sometimes reviews old claims and finds issues months later. As for the waiting week confusion - normally you only serve one waiting week per benefit year, but if you started a new benefit year, you'd have another waiting week. Could they have ended your first benefit year and started a new one?

omg this EXACT same thing happened to my brother last month!! overpayment notice out of nowhere and he hasnt claimed in forever too!

YOU HAVE TO APPEAL THAT NONSENSE!!! The UC system is a COMPLETE JOKE. They sent me an overpayment notice for $2800 and when I FINALLY got someone on the phone after 3 WEEKS of calling, turns out it was THEIR ERROR!!! They're hoping you'll just pay it without questioning!!! FIGHT THIS!!!

For the overpayment issue: It's most likely from your previous claim period. PA UC can determine overpayments years after the fact. Check your "Overpayment" section in your dashboard - it should tell you which weeks they're claiming were overpaid. Regarding the waiting week confusion: If you had a break in claims for more than 52 weeks, your benefit year expired and you're essentially starting a new claim, which requires a new waiting week. However, having TWO consecutive waiting weeks is unusual. That's something you'd need to call about to get clarified. You have 15 days from the date on the overpayment notice to file an appeal if you believe it's incorrect.

i had something like this happen but it was because my employer contested my original claim like 8 months later and they decided i wasnt eligible after already paying me weekly benefits so they wanted everything back! you should check if something similar happened

I just went through this exact nightmare last month. Couldn't get through on the phone for days - busy signals or disconnected after waiting for hours. I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a UC rep in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/CEPETxZdo9E?si=WL1ZzVZWG3KiHrg2 Turns out my "overpayment" was because they had incorrect wage information from one of my employers, and the waiting week issue was a system glitch. The rep fixed both problems while I was on the phone. Saved me from having to file an appeal.

One more thing to check: Did you report all your earnings correctly during your last claims period? Sometimes overpayments happen when the wages reported by your employer to PA UC don't match what you reported when filing weekly claims. Also, check if you accidentally claimed any weeks while you were working your temp job - that would definitely trigger an overpayment notice.

has anyone got the message on the website saying "call us" but then you call and its just busy busy busy all day??

Regarding the double waiting week issue - that's definitely not normal. Even with a new benefit year, there should only be one waiting week per benefit year. I suspect there might be a system error where your claim status wasn't properly updated. For the overpayment, you really need to speak with a representative to get the details. It could be a retroactive determination based on wage verification, an employer protest, or even an identity verification issue. Without knowing what weeks they're claiming were overpaid, it's hard to determine the cause.

My cousin works at the unemployment office (not in PA though) and she says their computers are super outdated and sometimes just generate errors like this. But you definitely need to address it either way because they won't just make it go away. Good luck!