Massachusetts Residents Receive Notification for Unemployment Overpayment

A number of Massachusetts citizens have recently received notices from the Department of Unemployment Assistance requesting that they reimburse overpayments of unemployment benefits.

In an interview with nbcboston.com, Rory MacAneney, a lawyer with Community Legal Aid in Fitchburg who is assisting the claimants, described the acute stress felt by individuals who got these warnings as follows:

"I'm seeing a lot of folks in a state of complete panic."

The majority of overpayments I've seen are in the thousands of dollars, many of them in the tens of thousands, and some as high as $40,000 or $50,000.

I don't know many folks who have been on unemployment for more than two years and had that type of cash on hand."

Despite the fact that many people received benefit checks during the epidemic, the Department of Unemployment Assistance eventually decided that some people received too much money, while others were not qualified but nonetheless received payments.

Part of the reason for the overpayment, according to DUA, is due to changes in federal rules during the pandemic.

The following is from a notice on the DUA website: "For the tax year 2021, DUA will not use state or federal tax intercepts to recover overpayments in normal Unemployment Insurance or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

Please disregard any Notice of Tax Intercept you may have received from DUA."