DUA bid to recoup overpayments should be DOA

You have to hand it to the state’s Department of Unemployment Assistance.

Back in the spring of 2020, it was inundated with thousands of fraudulent, coronavirus-inspired unemployment claims.

That July, the DUA reported that it had identified more than 58,000 bogus jobless claims and had recovered a total of $158 million.

That breach also prompted the DUA to halt weekly payments for some claimants and to block initial filings as it investigated.

And now the DUA, due to its own mismanagement of legitimate requests for assistance, wants those individuals to repay the excess state and federal largesse they received.

In its review of transactions processed during the pandemic, that agency discovered that hundreds of claimants received overly generous payments.

Yes, you’ve got to hand it — figuratively and literally – to the DUA.

As one might expect, the attempted claw-back of these overpayments has caused a great deal of anxiety for those – through no fault of their own – who fall into this category.

This development isn’t unique to Massachusetts.

Many states, according to legislators and attorneys, have identified overpayments caused by the speed with which states and the federal government rolled out emergency programs.

Targeted individuals have made state lawmakers aware of their predicament, which could require recipients to repay funds they no longer have.

Some state lawmakers want the DUA to expand eligibility for repayment waivers, including assistance used for living expenses and other necessities.

One state rep, Joan Meschino, filed legislation in September to do just that.

The Hull’s Democrat’s bill would clarify the metrics used to determine whether a beneficiary of unemployment benefits qualifies for a repayment waiver.

In addition to living expenses, her bill would grant waivers if the DUA took too long to seek repayment, or made errors during the application process that led to its errors.

Her bill would also seek to address language, technology and other barriers preventing workers from applying for waivers.

Meschino told the State House News Service the constituents seeking help came from all sectors, including the gig economy, tourism and hospitality.

She acknowledged that many of the overpayments were made during a period when DUA was processing huge volumes of claims while trying to apply changing rules and administer new programs authorized by Congress.

One of the those initiatives, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program, qualified a whole new class of employee — independent gig economy workers – for unemployment benefits who were never eligible in the past.

Meschino said she has met with DUA to discuss the matter, but both she and Greater Boston Legal Services told the News Service they’ve been unable to obtain detailed information from the agency on how many waiver applications DUA has processed, the scope of the overpayments, and how many people might have been impacted.

GBLS estimated that up to 72% of the overpayments came from federal programs with no impact on the state’s budget.

Using Department of Labor data, GBLS believes the total amount of overpayments could be between $1.58 billion and $1.92 billion, including a $531 million portion from state dollars.

If that’s true, the majority the recouped benefits would revert to the federal government.

While we’ve maintained that the overwhelming amount of state and federal assistance kept the jobless rate unnecessarily elevated and deprived employers of vitally needed help, we don’t believe recipients should be punished by a makeup call of the state’s own mistakes.

The current process allows DUA to waive repayment if it would “defeat the purpose of benefits” or if it goes against “equity and good conscience.”

By its own standard, it doesn’t appear that DUA can make much of repayment case.