ESD overpayment hearing delayed for 12+ months - can they garnish my tax refund?

Unfortunately, long delays with OAH hearings for overpayment cases have become more common since late 2024. The backlog is significant. However, ESD generally shouldn't garnish your tax refund while an appeal is pending - they're supposed to put collection activities on hold until after your hearing. I would recommend getting written confirmation that your appeal is in the system and actively pending. You can request this by sending a secure message through your eServices account specifically asking for confirmation of your appeal status.

mine took 14 months!!! they said covid backlog but that was BS since this was way after covid. when i finally got my hearing the judge was cool and actually canceled the whole overpayment. hang in there but also dont count on that tax refund just in case

I went through something similar in 2023 and waited about 9 months for my hearing date. The most important thing you need to do RIGHT NOW is check your eServices account and make sure there's a note on your account showing "Appeal Pending" status. If it doesn't say that specifically, ESD might not have your appeal properly logged and could potentially start collection. Also, I'd recommend checking your appeal status on the OAH website directly - they have a case lookup tool where you can verify your appeal is in their system.

Try using Claimyr to get through to an ESD agent quickly. I was in a similar situation waiting forever for my hearing, and using their service saved me hours of frustration. They helped me connect with an actual person at ESD who could check my appeal status in real-time. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3. Once I got through, the agent was able to confirm my appeal was still active and gave me an estimated timeframe for my hearing.

THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY TAKING TAX REFUNDS!!!! My sister had her appeal pending for 8 months and they STILL took her entire refund last year!!!! She had to fight for months to get it back and they made her submit like 50 documents. The whole system is RIGGED against us. ESD is a JOKE!!!

When I had my overpayment situation last year the wait was about 10 months for the hearing. Something that helped speed things up was contacting my state representative's office. They have constituent services staff who can sometimes intervene with state agencies. I emailed mine explaining the long delay and how it was causing financial hardship, and within 3 weeks I got my hearing date scheduled. Might be worth trying!

My hearing got delayed too but only like 6 months. The weird thing was they sent the hearing notice to my old address even tho I updated my address in the system like 3 times lol. Make sure all ur contact info is current in both ESD and OAH systems because sometimes they dont share info between them. I almost missed my hearing because of that stupid mistake.

To directly address your tax refund concern: In most cases, if your appeal is properly recorded in the system with that "Collection Suspended" status you mentioned, your tax refund should be safe. However, as a precaution, you might want to file a "Request to Stay Collection" form with OAH if you haven't already. This creates an additional layer of protection while your appeal is pending. You can download this form from the OAH website and submit it directly to them.

btw when you finally get ur hearing make sure u have ALL ur documents ready. the judge only gave me like 15 min to explain my situation and I almost messed up by not having my work search records printed out. have everything organized by dates and bring extra copies

Just to give you some hope - my overpayment was completely dismissed after my hearing. The ESD representative couldn't prove I had been properly notified about reporting requirements. Make sure you review all notifications they sent you during your claim period. If they failed to properly inform you about any requirements they're using as basis for the overpayment, that's a strong defense. About 70% of the overpayment appeals I've heard about were either reduced or dismissed entirely.