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Three new bills were recently introduced in the Assembly that seek to prevent and/or crackdown on the overpayment of unemployment benefits. The first bill aims to prevent overpayments by requiring more frequent wage reporting by employers. After an audit was conducted by the Unemployment Insurance Services division of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, it was determined that the lengthy delays in wage reporting results in payments being made to individuals who are no longer unemployed. By increasing the frequency with which employers report wages, the Department of Labor will be better informed about when an individual who collects benefits obtains a new job. Currently, employers are required to report wages within 30 days of the end of each quarter. Under the proposed bill, the reporting requirement will be modified to be within 10 days of the end of each month.
The next proposed bill would require the Department of Treasury to recoup overpayments. Under this proposed legislation, the Department of Labor would notify the Treasury when an individual has failed to return an overpayment and the Treasury would then pursue the individual for the amount owed. If the Treasury is unable to collect, the bill would give them power for garnish their wages.
Finally, a third proposed bill would allow the Department of Labor to better keep track of individuals who are deceased or become incarcerated while collecting unemployment. This bill would require the state registrar and the Department of Corrections to provide information about newly deceased or incarcerated individuals so that they can be cross-checked against those collecting unemployment.
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