JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missourians who accidentally received too much money through federal unemployment programs during the pandemic will be able to ask the state for permission to not pay it back.
The state made headlines earlier this year after asking some residents to pay back the money they weren’t supposed to receive. In some cases, the bills were in the thousands of dollars. One St. Louis area woman said the Missouri Department of Labor told her she owed the agency nearly $14,000.
Note: The video above is from February 2021.
In late February, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-Missouri, blasted the collection efforts that affected thousands of state residents.
"The overpaid benefits are the state's fault — let me repeat — the overpaid benefits are the state's fault. The governor should cease all efforts to collect this money from families in need," she said.
Now, the Missouri labor department is starting a process that gives residents a chance to clear their bill.
On Tuesday, the agency announced residents can apply to the Division of Employment Security (DES) for a waiver, meaning they wouldn’t have to pay back unemployment benefit overpayments. Notices started going out last week to Missourians, potentially in the thousands, who can apply for the waiver. They’ll be able to apply online.
There are several restrictions in place, the labor department said. Most notably, recipients can only apply for the waiver if no fraud was involved and they received the extra unemployment benefits through no fault of their own.
The waiver application applies to overpaid benefits for weeks ending Feb. 8, 2020-June 12, 2021 under these federal pandemic programs:
- Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC)
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
- Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation (MEUC)
- Lost Wages Assistance (LWA)
The benefits must have been given out under the CARES Act. Regular state unemployment insurance (UI) overpayments, Extended Benefits (EB) overpayments and overpayments that resulted from claimant fraud are not eligible for the waiver.