Thousands Of Texans Are Getting Bills For Unemployment Overpayments

The Texas Workforce Commission is sending tens of thousands of Texans bills for overpaid unemployment benefits.

The state agency is trying to recoup $203 million it paid out to about 185,000 people since the beginning of March. The overpayments went to 1% of Texans who applied for unemployment benefits due to the pandemic, but it's causing headaches for people around the state.

“It’s a terrible insult to injury when someone gets unemployment benefits and then the Texas Workforce Commission later determines that they were not in fact eligible," Kathryn Youker, an attorney for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, told the Austin American Statesman.

The TWC hasn't accepted responsibility for the overpayments, KXAN reported, but Texans who do receive bills are required to pay or else the debt will follow them.

“State law requires TWC to recover all unemployment benefits overpayments. There is no statute of limitations on debts owed to the state and TWC cannot forgive or dismiss the overpayments, and there is no exception for hardships,” TWC spokesman Cisco Gamez said.

The overpayments happened because the TWC was flooded with claims once the pandemic hit and tried to process them to send out checks as soon as possible. In some cases, the agency had incomplete or incorrect data from applicants.

“This is just not fair because you cannot pay people all of this money and then wait two to three months to say, ‘Oh, well, we’ve done our investigation and we found that your claim was not valid. So we want this money back,'" said Kelvin Taylor, a San Antonio resident who was initially told he owed the TWC $4,000.

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of options for people who received bills from TWC. If you can, pay the TWC back, especially since the debt can hold up other state-related aid. If you think you should not have received a bill or if it's incorrect, you can file an appeal with TWC no more than 14 days after you receive the bill. Organizations like Texas RioGrande Legal Aid can also help those with more complicated cases.

Photo: Flickr / Jernej Furman