MO lawmakers say Labor Department went back on its word to halt collections
Missouri lawmakers working to resolve unemployment overpayment issues
and last updated 2021-04-15 18:59:37-04
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. â Missouri lawmakers claim the Department of Labor went back on its word to halt collections of overpayment money.
41 Action News first reported this issue in
July 2020, when Missourians reported receiving notices of overpayment from the agency. The notices said they had been overpaid due to no fault of their own, through agency error and they needed to pay that money back.
After months of stress and struggling to get any information about the notices, the agency explained about 45,000 Missourians had received them.
Bill would allow recipients to keep much of overpaid unemployment benefits komu.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from komu.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Updated Feb. 10 with details from House Government Oversight Committee hearing:
Six Missouri state representatives are working to pass legislation to forgive some or all of the unemployment overpayments that the Missouri Department of Labor is asking thousands to pay back.
Five bills currently moving through committee would forgive the federal portion of that funding, which is about 80% of all the benefits. A noninterest payment plan is being offered by the department.
Rep. Ian Mackey, D-St. Louis, wants to see the state portion also forgiven, since it was the department’s error.
“Why wouldn’t we want to say to any unemployed person who did not commit fraud, who was inadvertently overpaid, to say: ‘We got it. We messed up. It’s on us,’” Mackey said.
This just isn t good government : MO lawmakers look to waive unemployment overpayments
Lawmakers on both sides of the state line are looking to waive overpayment notices for those receiving unemployment benefits.
and last updated 2021-02-09 20:23:56-05
KANSAS CITY, Mo. â Missouri lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are putting pressure on Gov. Mike Parson to waive overpayment notices sent out by the Department of Labor.
Missouri lawmakers held a hearing last week to discuss the overpayments with Labor Director Anna Hui.
State Rep. Jered Taylor, (R-District 139), chair of the Special Committee on Government Oversight, said Hui told lawmakers the state has overpaid 40,000 to 50,000 residents.
Originally published on February 3, 2021 10:10 am
Missouri lawmakers filed several bills Tuesday to keep the state from collecting unemployment money from 46,000 Missourians it accidentally overpaid.
The move comes after two days of intense questioning of Department of Labor Director Anna Hui.
During a meeting of the House Special Committee on Government Oversight on Tuesday, Hui revealed that the department overpaid $150 million in state and federal unemployment benefits last year, or about 3% of all the money paid out.
Hui said those are full-year figures. The department previously told St. Louis Public Radio it overpaid $96 million between January and September.
Representatives of both parties challenged Hui for 2½ hours on the morality and financial feasibility of trying to recoup money that many people