Unemployment Issues Update

Dear Neighbor, 

Many in our community and across Michigan have been dealing with issues related to unemployment assistance they received during this pandemic. My team and I have been working nonstop to resolve these issues and advocate for solutions at the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA). 

I’m proud to say that we have two bits of very good news. First, is that Governor Whitmer signed my legislation, Senate Bill 445. 

In early 2020, Congress passed the CARES Act creating the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. This program was intended to help all full- and part-time workers out of work during the pandemic. When applying for and certifying for these benefits, some workers who were applying for federal unemployment benefits answered “no” when asked if they were “able and available for full-time work”. They may have said no if they were a part-time worker, or if they were taking care of children or a loved one, or are immunocompromised and unable to work full-time. This disqualified them from ever collecting PUA benefits. Other workers answered “yes” when asked if they were “able and available for full-time work” and collected PUA benefits, but later the UIA determined they were not eligible for them and these workers received notices informing them that they needed to pay back the benefits they collected. 

Senate Bill 445 turns off this “able and available” requirement for federal claims filed during the pandemic. Part-time workers and those who, at the time, could not work full-time will not have to pay back the benefits they received, or they will be able to collect the benefits they were wrongfully denied. This also means that the UIA will be able to focus on actual fraud.  

If you were denied unemployment benefits, or have received an intentional misrepresentation notice and/or overpayment letter from the UIA specifically because of the “able and available” requirement, please contact my office here.  

To know if your claim was affected by this “able and available” requirement, your Notice of Determination, or Notice of Redetermination will list the “Issue” as either “Ability” or “Availability”. It will look similar to the one below: 

Secondly, Governor Whitmer secured the U.S. Department of Labor’s approval for eligibility waivers for Michigan workers who received PUA benefits. The UIA will be able to grant waivers to a broad set of workers who meet one of these criteria overpayments:  

1. An individual responded “no” to being able and available for work and the state issued payment for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation without adjudicating the eligibility issue.  
2. An individual was eligible for payment and the state issued payment at a higher Weekly Benefit Amount under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program.  
• To know if your claim will qualify for this waiver, your Notice of Determination, or Notice of Redetermination will list the “Issue” as “WBA” 
3. The individual responded “no” to being unemployed, partially unemployed, or unable or unavailable to work due to the approved coronavirus-related reasons, and the state paid Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. When asked to self-certify, the individual did not respond or confirmed that none of the approved coronavirus-related reasons applied and the state issued payment, resulting in overpayment for the week.   
4. The individual submitted required proof of earnings used to calculate Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Weekly Benefit Amount and the state incorrectly processed the calculation resulting in a higher weekly benefit amount under the PUA program.   
• To know if your claim will qualify for this waiver, your Notice of Determination, or Notice of Redetermination will list the “Issue” as “WBA” 
5. The individual submitted proof of self-employment earnings to establish eligibility for Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation Program and the state incorrectly processed the information, resulting in overpayment. 

To help my team and me advocate for you, please let us know how your claim currently stands. We want to collect enough information so that we can press the UIA to grant you an eligibility waiver if you meet one of these criteria. 

>> If you were denied unemployment benefits, or have received an intentional misrepresentation notice and/or overpayment letter from the UIA please contact my office here. 

Sincerely, 

Jeff Irwin
State Senator
18th District