Tens of thousands may be eligible for debt forgiveness from COVID unemployment overpayments. The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty's workers' rights director speaks with KC Counts about how the process and how to get help. Here is a transcript of her conversation with Stephanie Welch:
KC Counts:
So this goes back quite a few years here. Of course, things do take their time to get through the courts. But we're talking about people who received unemployment benefits during COVID, what a time, and then had to repay those benefits, right? But erroneously so...
Stephanie Welch:
Many benefits were going out to people during the pandemic, and many of those benefits were through new federal programs. So just a ton of administrative errors were made in getting those benefits out to people. As a result of those errors, the Department of Workforce Solutions, which manages the Unemployment Benefits Program, decided that a lot of those benefits had been issued in error and should be paid back. Not all of those benefits were necessarily overpayments. But the department system determined that many of them were and required people to pay them back.
KC Counts:
And of course, when somebody gets a check, they expect that it's theirs. It's coming from - in what remarkable circumstances everyone was living under at that time - and people use that money to pay their bills, no doubt. And then it's not just laying around for them to pay back when the call comes, right?
Stephanie Welch:
Absolutely. That money was much needed for so many New Mexicans. They put it immediately to use to pay their rent, to pay for food, to keep themselves getting by until people could get back to work.
KC Counts:
Do you have any idea how much money are we talking about and how many New Mexicans are involved?
Stephanie Welch:
When we settled the lawsuit with the Department of Workforce Solutions, the department issued a notice about the settlement to about 60,000 people. That was the department's estimate of who would be affected by the settlement. So we use that number that at least 60,000 people could benefit from debt forgiveness or from refunds of money they paid back. That was at the time of the settlement. Now we estimate that there's about 30,000 people out there who could benefit, but haven't yet received the benefit and need to apply to have their debt forgiven.
KC Counts:
Right, okay, we'll talk about that application process in a moment. But first, tell us about Duran v. New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.
Stephanie Welch:
We filed the lawsuit because the federal government made it possible for states to forgive and waive a bunch of these overpayments that came out of the pandemic. New Mexico was forgiving some debt from people, but a lot of people didn't know about the program. A lot of people were being denied forgiveness. A lot of people were receiving only partial forgiveness. A lot of people were entitled to not just forgiveness, but also refunds. And the department wasn't issuing those folks refunds. So we filed our lawsuit and entered negotiations with the department to try to get full implementation of a robust and effective debt forgiveness program for the New Mexicans who are eligible for it under federal law.
KC Counts:
So, let's talk now about that application process. What do people need to do if they might be one of those 30,000? Would they already know if they are one of those 30,000?
Stephanie Welch:
Some people have received notice from the department. We think a lot of people never did receive that notice about their eligibility, whether that's because their mailing address has changed or they haven't had reason to log in to their unemployment online account or the e-mail address that they used for that online account they no longer use.
There's many reasons with a passage of such a long period of time that a lot of eligible people haven't probably received notice about this. So, anyone who received unemployment during the pandemic should just go ahead and check in with the Department of Workforce Solutions to see if they have an overpayment, and if they do, to apply to have it forgiven. And they can apply by calling the department. They can log in to their online unemployment account, or they can go into a Department of Workforce Solutions office anywhere in the state to ask to apply for a waiver of their overpayment.
KC Counts:
Do you have any idea about what like the average amount owed is?
Stephanie Welch:
Some people, it's like $2,000. I don't know the average; I've talked to people who have owed as much as $30,000.
KC Counts:
Wow. All right. Now, what if folks are having trouble making their way through the process for whatever reason?
Stephanie Welch:
Anyone who encounters any difficulty or who has any questions about the process can contact us at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. Our phone number is 505-203-53330. 255-2840. We also have information on our website about this, and that is at nmpovertylaw.org/ui.
KC Counts:
All right, Stephanie, anything important for people to know that I just haven't asked you about yet?
Stephanie Welch:
The application process is not onerous. It's not gonna take a lot of time for people. They just have to answer two simple yes or no questions. They don't have to provide documentation or proof in support of their answers to those questions. So if people are intimidated by the process, afraid they don't still have their records from back then, and they're gonna have to prove what happened. They should feel assured that it's simple and straightforward.
KC Counts:
All right. Well, thank you so much for telling us about it and explaining the process. We appreciate the time.
Stephanie Welch:
Thank you very much.
You can go straight the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty's page right here.
You can find the Department of Workforce Solutions' page here.
