Benefits exhausted but still receiving payments (file, receive, claim, money)

[Doctora]

I lost my job at the end of May this year. I filed for unemployment immediately and was approved. I knew I was coming up on the end of my claim, and Sunday when I did my certification, instead of telling me that I would recieve payment this week, it stated that my benefits were exhausted. However I was paid the full weekly amount Wednesday. I never received any communication stating that the benefits were up besides at the end of my certification. I'm confused as to if they made a mistake? Will they be taking the money back? Should I continue to file or is that considered overpayment even though they haven't sent out a letter?

[Rabrrita]

When you first applied, you should have received a "Monetary Determination" letter. This was the letter that basically said (if you are approved to actually be paid) this is what you will get and for how long. It will have information on waiting periods and all sorts of financial information. Grab that letter and read it. Grab a calendar and indicate each payment and for what week claimed and when paid. You will need to do a bit of calculating to see if in fact you received more money than entitled. If you were in fact overpaid, we can address that later but for now, you need to put pencil to paper and calculate the exact benefits payments you received while comparing the numbers to what your monetary letter stated.

To give you an idea what we mean, look at the many "my money stopped but the year is not up" or "I dn;t get my full 26 weeks" or " I was paid but I thought I was done" posts on this forum. In most cases, its was simple a misunderstanding of how much they were awarded, how it was divided up, how long their payment period was, etc. Just do the calculations and give us the results.

[Ariadne22]

OP - chances are this is your last payment and system has now informed you of that. Do the math. Will this last payment put you over the original monetary award? Unlikely.

[Doctora]

I found my determination letter and did the math. This was in fact over the amount in that letter. It was the full weekly amount that I've been receiving, and puts me a week's amount over what the letter says I was approved for. I assume that means they will take back the money?

[Ariadne22]

Eventually, yes, you may be hearing about this overpayment. It is unusual to be overpaid by one week.

• How did you do the math??
• Did you check actual payments made or just count weeks??
• Was there an unpaid waiting week at the beginning of your claim??

If you are counting weeks only - not actual monies received - remember that first week was not paid.

[Doctora]

Yes I checked all of the payments themselves. There was a week that I wasn't paid, I didn't count that one. I will be calling Monday to find out what happens now, I'd rather not spend the money just to have them coming after it later.

[Chyvan]

Originally Posted by Doctora

I'd rather not spend the money just to have them coming after it later.

Spend the money. Especially if it's on something important. At worst, the overpayment can be a free loan. At best, there are lots of ways to never have to pay it back.


I personally don't believe that any state would pay for a week of UI because of a glitch, but if you think you've gotten an extra week, I'd keep claiming and never say a word. So long as you aren't lying to get the weekly benefit, then nonfraud overpayments can be dealt with to your advantage.