I went on a combined claim, from NV State to WA State, and they want to make me repay the entire year of benefits!

I lived in NV, and was laid off in Dec 2007. I moved to WA State in March, hoping to find work there. I found a job for one week in March, but quit due to the fact it was out of my area of expertise, and I was not qualified to perform the job. NV State interviewed me and investigated the reason I quit, and found me eligible for continued benefits. NV State continued to pay me up until Dec 2008. Then, suddenly, I was contacted by WA State and told I was now on a combined claim, and that they were supposed to have been paying me unemployment benefits since July 2008, a few months after the March job. They sent me a check for $10,000.00 first week of Jan 2009, and NV State sent me a bill for $6000.00 to back pay them for the times WA State was supposed to be paying them. I received another month of benefits, until a few weeks ago I received a threatening letter from WA State stating that my reason and the employer’s reason I quit the March job (when I was under NV juridiction and had been successfully investigated)did not match and therefore, due to me being fraudulent, I might have to repay $14,000 back to them, plus costly interest fees. WA State simply has made an error in my file and mixed up the job reasons between the two jobs I had worked. I sent in the NV State documentation to WA showing I was under NV state jurisdiction during that job in March, and that I had not committed fraud, but that NV had investigated and found me eligible for continued benefits. I still have not heard back from them.
If WA State rules against me, I still have to pay $6000.00 to NV, and that means I will be double charged, and end up paying over $6000.00 more than what I even received for the year! I contacted NV, and they won’t help at all, and said I still have to pay them. I called an attorney, she said if they rule against me even at the appeal, if there is one, I will have to pay both States since they do not work together. This is absurd! What are my chances of being cleared on this? I have all documentation from NV State, and I explained clearly that I was not involved in fraud, and that they must have mixed up my two jobs in the computer when they took over my claim. Will I have a good chance of this being cleared? It has been my only income, and I do not have this cash to pay them back a year later!

Hi Anonymous,

I am trying to figure out how you managed to collect unemployment from December of 07 until..what 1/09 and only worked one week subsequent to filing for unemployment in 12/07.

First of all in both Washington and Nevada, the maximum number of weeks a person will be able to collect is 26 for any benefit year. To qualify for a second benefit year a person has to earn at least three times their weekly benefit amount in Nevada and six times their WBA in Washington.

As far as I know if you received anything from Nevada..or Washington after those 26 weeks were up it would be due to receipt of Federal emergency unemployment benefits. It’s the only way you’d get anymore than 26 weeks. The money should not have been coming from either Nevada nor Washington. If you opened a claim in Washington when Nevada quit paying…that was a no no. Washington was probably paying you…mistakenly and all your earnings were still in the Nevada base period….which Nevada had already paid you for.

I sure hope you still have that 10,000 dollars because unless it was coming from the feds for EUC…you owe it back. I suggest you check out this website for some legal help. http://www.unemploymentlawproject.org/

If you are being accused of unemployment fraud..I don’t think it would be wise to go it alone

Comments for I went on a combined claim, from NV State to WA State, and they want to make me repay the entire year of benefits!

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Feb 07, 2009
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one more thing…

by: Anonymous

I forgot to mention, my benefits did run out in NV, and they put me on the EUC compensation, and then they told me I was supposed to be on a combined claim with WA, but when WA took over my benefits, I was no longer on EUC. In fact, right before I received this letter threatening to make me repay my benefits, they told me I was eligible to apply for EUC. This is what is confusing. I was on EUC half the time at the end in NV…yet NV State is asking me to repay them $6000.00. I do not understand why I did not go on EUC in WA, and why they put me on a normal claim. But, like I said, I had been working full time for many years, and the issue is not about me not having enough hours to receive unemployment (they check all that anyway before anyone gets approved), but it is about WA State making a mistake in their computer regarding the reason I quit the second job. The agent who filled everything into the computer could barely speak English, and he mixed up the two jobs, which resulted in this mess. I talked to that agent after I got this letter, and he admitted he made an error, but he said he could do nothing about it as it was out of his hands.

You have filed appeals of determinations…right? You might want to subpoena the agent. I do not understand why if he knew he made a mistake a redetermination was not issued.

I still think you need an attorney or some type of advocate with you at the hearings.

The combined wage claim thing was throwing me, so I did a little digging and found this:

Beginning January 6, 2009, the definition of ?Paying State?, when filing a Combined-Wage Claim, will be changed as follows:

Federal Register Part 616 Interstate Arrangement for Combining Employment and Wages:

Section 616.6 Definitions: (e) Paying State, A single state against which the claimant files a Combined-Wage Claim, if the claimant has wages and employment in that State?s base period(s) and the claimant qualifies for unemployment benefits under the unemployment compensation law of that State using combined wages and employment.

All states must comply with this amended regulation.

Washington can no longer pay your combined wage claim because effective 1/6/09 a state cannot do a combined wage claim unless the claimant had “qualifying wages” in their state. (three weeks is not enough) And furthermore, I think why NV wants $6000 back is because they already paid you benefits for those wages in your base period. The same wages Washington used.

I really think you need someone to attend the hearings with you. I don’t think it’s fraud, but if it can proven that Washington is at fault for the supposed overpayments because it should have been an EUC claim versus a combined, Washington may waive repayment.

Feb 07, 2009
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had worked full time

by: Anonymous

No, I did not only work 2 weeks. I had worked full time for another company in Vegas for many years, when I was laid off. When I moved to WA, I landed another job that lasted only a few weeks. So, yes, legally, I was eligible for benefits. This claim to have me repay benefits is over a discrepancy on the second job. I had every right to receive benefits because I was investigated on each job and approved by the agent in NV. It is now WA State who is undoing what NV did.