A programming mistake caused more than 4,000 out-of-work
Louisiana residents to get notices saying they’d been overpaid thousands of
dollars in unemployment compensation and had to return the money, officials
say.
“I apologize,” Louisiana Workforce Commission Ava Dejoie
told The Advocate. She said incorrectly programmed computers miscalculated
benefits and automatically sent the notices to people who applied on two days
in March.
The commission has sent nearly 8,500 “cancellation
adjustment notices” to more than 4,300 people, commission media office staffer
Frededreia “Dede” Dunham wrote in an email Friday to The Associated Press. Most
people got two overpayment notices, one for state payments and one for federal
payments, she said.
“There are around 20 overpayment cases that have not been
canceled yet. There are variations within these cases which require further
steps to be taken before canceling,” she wrote.
Dejoie said the erroneous notices were sent Sept. 9 and 10
to people who applied for benefits on March 29 and 30.
Katherine Stephens, a legislative worker laid off in April,
told WBRZ-TV that after her benefits stopped last week, she found a statement
on the commission website saying she'd been overpaid. Her calls to the
commission were not returned.
She got two letters Monday, one saying she owed the state
$4,278 and $9,600 to the federal government.
“They’re essentially asking me for $14,000, and I have 15
days to either pay it or appeal,” she said.
The commission set up an email account for people dealing
with the problem, a news release said.
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