Bill Introduced to Spare Repayment of Unemployment Benefit Overpayments Obtained Innocently But Erroneously

On January 30, 2012, a bill was introduced (A2140) that would allow, in certain circumstances, individuals to keep unemployment compensation overpayments they receive through no fault of their own. Except when the overpayments are the result of the individual’s knowing nondisclosure or misrepresentation (in which case all overpayments must be repaid), the individual would need only to repay a percentage of the overpayment, on a sliding scale tied to the delay in which the Department alerts the individual of the overpayment. After 365 days, the overpayment need not be repaid.