Overpayment of Unemployment Benefits in New York

My question involves unemployment benefits for the state of: New York

While helping a friend who moved out of NY last year with her taxes I realized that she had a 1099 from NYS unemployment and a W2 from an employer in another state. She was awarded benefits after losing her job in her new state because her base period was while she was working in NY. She was unemployed for only a few months while receiving benefits. Then got a job. She apparently thought she could still continue to collect the entire amount awarded from NYS. She should have quit receiving benefits after she started working but I think she made an honest mistake. I know she was not trying to commit fraud, she is just naive because she had never been unemployed.

I advised her to call the Unemployment office call center and get the process started to repay the over-payment. Its about $12,000. She called and they are sending her the paperwork to calculate the over-payment. She said they were really nice and helpful. So that is where she is now with the matter.

She is obviously freaking and so I am trying to help her get a sense of what may happen. I have read several case law examples ranging from repayment with penalties and forfeit of "x" weeks future benefits all the way to grand larceny charges.

My question is if she repays with penalties and any fees in a reasonable amount of time, will there be any criminal charges? She is the one that brought it to their attention so I am hoping its just a matter of payment and fees. Any advice on what the procedure is and what may happen would be appreciated.

There is next to NO chance of criminal charges as long as she follows through. The ones who are criminally charged are the ones who are caught by the UI board and either ignore any attempts to contact them or who set up payment plans and then fail to follow through. Where she self-identified as having overpaid, as long as she actually follows through on making her repayments the UI board is not going to be interested in charging her. That is their last choice of actions, not their first. They're not interesting in suing her or filing criminal charges unless she makes it necessary.

Should the matter escalate, I doubt that New York is going to view this as an honest mistake. It's difficult to believe that she would have been returning honest work search record forms each week, documenting to the state that she was actively looking for jobs when she was already employed.

If the agency remains helpful, it's possible that the story will end with her prompt repayment of the overpaid benefits. The consequences will be minimized if they proceed on the assumption that her violation was not willful, but if they conclude otherwise then both monetary penalties and forfeit days will be assessed. (She could attempt to convince an Administrative Law Judge, Appeal Board, or court to override the penalty).

She said she wasn't ask to ever send in a work search record. Just to fill in online check the boxes each week, which I agree she should have read carefully what she was attesting to. I think they have since changed the law in NY to mandate it online search records. Either way she is not trying to get out of paying. If she was assessed penalties and forfeit days she would accept that without an appeal. She is not denying she was wrong. I appreciate your answers.

I know it's not your state but here http://www.city-data.com/forum/unemp...mployment.html pretty much the same situation. If the friend was truly clueless and can back it up, then do what this guy did so you only payback the overpayment and avoid the penalties.

Chyvan, its ironic that you post this because that feed was pretty much how our entire conversation went. I am not an expert and I do believe her. She literally thought it meant only working in NY and when I pointed out "ready, willing and able" to work, was she planning on moving back to NY? She realized how naive she had been. Thank you for this. I just hope she can pay it back and its the end of it. I think the penalty is 15% according to the website. So to not have criminal charges I told her to pay the $2,000 penalty and be thankful that's all she has to do. Plus she owes thousands in taxes on that money that I said I can't offset for her til next year, when I can file against the repayment for a credit. Its a real mess.

As you note, telling UI that you're "ready, willing and able" seven days per week when you're already employed is going to raise skepticism. The language of the question is not unclear. That's why I continue to think it's in her best interest to get this wrapped up and to get the overpayment repaid as quickly as possible -- because if they investigate and find deliberate misconduct they will assess penalties -- if intent is found, the penalties are mandatory at that level of review.

While I tend to agree with Mr. K that it is likely this will not be seen as an honest mistake (whether it was or not) it does not change the fact that as long as she makes restitution for the overpayments and pays any penalties and fines, and sticks to whatever payment plan they agree to, it is unlikely in the extreme that she will be criminally charged. The UI commission would prefer not to spend money on lawsuits and trials if they don't have to. Criminal charges are a point of last resort.

It's not just criminal charges, it's also the administrative penalties I've mentioned, which is why I've been asserting that the best way to close this out without incurring any additional consequence is to work things out amicably and pay the money back as quickly as possible. If she can work out a mutually acceptable repayment schedule, given the amount of money involved, I agree that would be a good thing.

Can't argue with any of that.