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Lawmakers indicated they would support waiving repayments for non-fraud overages
An unprecedented surge in applications for unemployment benefits overwhelmed the state Division of Employment Security, Assistant Secretary Pryor Gibson told state lawmakers this week. And nearly a year into the pandemic, it is still struggling.
More than 1.4 million North Carolinians have applied for unemployment benefits since last March, when the COVID-19 pandemic first shut down large segments of the economy and led to record layoffs.
“Our offices continue to get calls that we can’t often get answers for in dealing with [DES],” said Sen. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson), co-chair of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Unemployment Insurance, in Tuesday’s meeting. “North Carolina citizens deserve an employment system that works for them.”
In yet another sign of turmoil at the N.C. Division of Employment Security, officials announced this week the division overpaid more than $69 million in unemployment benefits last year.
The pandemic causes a sharp spike in claims in 2020, with nearly a third of workers filing for unemployment. State and federal employment programs paid out more than $8 billion to North Carolinians last year.
NCDES Assistant Secretary Pryor Gibson told the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Unemployment Insurance on Tuesday, Jan. 26, that a combination of more money passing through the system and additional programs resulted in the overpayments. For example, $45 million of the overpayments came from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a new federal program that provided the jobless with an additional $600 per week and included nontraditional claimants such as independent contractors.