PAY BACK: Federal workers in Wisconsin are required to repay any unemployment benefits that were received during the government shutdown.
Posted on 10/24/2013 7:03:48 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
MADISON — Federal employees in Wisconsin apparently cannot have their cake and eat it, too.
What could be more than 2,000 furloughed workers who received back pay related to the 16-day partial government shutdown will have to reimburse any unemployment benefits that were applied for or collected during that time, Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development spokesman John Dipko said.
That total could be in excess of $245,000.
According to Dipko, nearly 2,070 federal employees in the Badger State filed claims for unemployment between Sept. 30 and Oct. 12.
The number of claims made last week were not available at the time of this report.
Documents provided by Dipko show the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees system paid out almost $250,000 to federal workers in Wisconsin between Sept. 29 and Saturday.
More money could potentially be on the way because Dipko said the time it takes to process and pay out a claim can vary.
“Some claimants may need to serve the statutorily-required waiting week before receiving benefits,” Dipko told Wisconsin Reporter in an email. “In other cases, employer wage reports may not be received right away.”
The minimum weekly unemployment insurance benefit rate is $54 and the maximum is $363, Dipko said.
However, state law requires any federal employee in Wisconsin to reimburse any overpaid financial assistance.
If they haven’t already, workers will be notified in writing of their obligation to repay extraneous benefits.
Dikpo said those employees shouldn’t be shocked when they are presented with the correspondence.
“We proactively advised claimants when they contacted us, for their own planning purposes, that they may have to repay benefits for claimed weeks if they receive back pay for those weeks,” Dipko added.
According to the unemployment insurance handbook, the overpayments automatically will be deducted from any future UI compensation.
But if other benefits will not be paid out at a later date, employees will have to pay of pocket, either in one lump sum or over several months. If a worker disagrees with the amount the employer has reported or the requirement to repay, they can file an objection, the handbook states.
If employees contend the overpayments is anyone’s guess, but what is known is that Wisconsin is not alone when it comes to this so-called “double-dipping.”
Federal workers in Illinois, Virginia and Kansas also will have to reimburse any unemployment benefits if they received back pay during the shutdown, Watchdog.org has learned.
But that is not the case in Oregon.
Officials in that state cannot require some federal employees to pay back unemployment benefits because of an administrative rule aimed at helping private sector workers on long layoffs, according to Craig Spivey, public information officer for the Oregon Employment Department.
With another possible government shutdown looming in a few months, Oregon is expected to take another look at that regulation, Spivey said.
PAY BACK: Federal workers in Wisconsin are required to repay any unemployment benefits that were received during the government shutdown.
FReep Mail me if yu want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
They’ve probably already spend there benefits at Wal-Mart.
Excellent. Now how about those crooks who ran up their EBT cards a couple of weeks ago.
Just out of idle curiosity, are there any federal workers paid on a weekly basis? I thought most were paid twice a month or monthly.
Which, if correct, means that no federal worker missed a paycheck at any point during the entire shutdown.
Unless afscme (if they’re unionized) or someone form seiu stirs the pot. One of my former work buddies who still works for the same contractor I used to work for was “furloughed” during the shut down and if he wants paid for the days off he’s gotta use vacation hours he had banked.
They didn’t need to spend the double dip money at Walmart.
They just used their food stamp cards when the limits were “glitched” off.
Soooooo.....the Feds are worried about $245,000 that some people may have received so that they didn’t go hungry but really have no real worry that we just pissed away $600 million on a website that an Atari Cartridge works better than.
$245,000/$600,000,000 = .0004
It was kind of funny, because after finally getting through all the Are you sure? screeners, they actually had a job referral for me. I called the company, was asked to drive out for an interview and started the next day. Yeah, it didn't pay that well, but it was about the easiest to get job I ever got.
I've heard that companies use state unemployment offices as a last resort when they can't find needed staff any other way. 90% of the applicants are looking for an excuse not to take the job but stay qualified for unemployment. The 10% who don't fit that profile have a very good chance of actually being hired.
All DoD civilian employees are paid every two weeks. I don’t know for sure if there are any exemptions, but I doubt it.
Active duty military has the option for only end of month pay or to take half pay on the 15th and remaining half on the last day.
Fed workers in almost all states are required to pay back any unemployment they received (Oregon being one exception I heard about).
Some Fed employees who live closer to the margin did file for unemployment because 1) there was no plan for the back pay, and 2) no one knew how long the shutdown would go on. I haven’t heard anyone where I work talking about trying to keep it.
Net result was that for one pay period the check was about half, and the next was delayed.
It’s not the Feds, it is the State of Wisconsin.
On another note they pushed out all sorts of info on applying for unemployment. I took another path. I left Monday morning and went to work at a friends business and the school where I teach at night until the recall. I am one of those few with a work ethic I guess, but I get to keep the extra money...
Kind’a like a payday loan, but without the fees and interest. They should be grateful they got that paid vacation!
You have to be joking!
If missing one paycheck means you go hungry someone needs to take a look at their spending habits. I sure has hell don't want them working in the Federal government!
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