OLYMPIA, Wash. — Nearly 55,000 Washington residents may have to pay back some of their unemployment benefits, according to Cami Feek, the new acting commissioner for Washington's Employment Security Department (ESD).
Feek gave the update to state lawmakers on Thursday, when she was discussing several topics the department continues to deal with, including the issue of residents possibly owing pack pay.
“As these claims are being adjudicated and people are determining whether people are qualified or not, there's often information that we need in response to that, and we have seen a lower than expected response rate,” Feek said.
ESD spokesperson Nick Demerice said many people could be on the list because they did not respond to a request for more information that ultimately played a role in their eligibility.
Demerice said the issue could be as simple as a mistype of a driver’s license, or a mismatch of data, and federal law requires they verify it.
Feek said now the ESD will be reaching out to many people who have gotten denial letters to clear things up. The department is also increasing the minimum time people must respond from five days to 10 days.
Feek said their data showed many people who were only filing weekly claims simply didn’t log back in to the system in time to catch the alert before the system determined them to be ineligible.
“And it resulted in not only a presumptive denial that then we often have to re-determine…the claimant would get a really scary overpayment letter saying they owed us money,” she said.
Demerice added that teams will be reaching out to those impacted and it’s likely many will be able to get the issue resolved and pay little to no money back. However, he added if repayment is necessary, they do have repayment plan options they can work with people on.
The ESD has paid more than $15 billion to hundreds of thousands of workers since the start of the pandemic, but Feek said Thursday there remains work to be done when it comes to ensuring everyone is getting what they need.
“It's really staggering by any comparison and we know that many have been left out. They've been frustrated, stymied, and to those workers -- we apologize,” said Feek.