FloridaCommerce remains committed to Floridians and understands the financial hardships and uncertainty the pandemic has caused for many claimants and their families. FloridaCommerce recognizes the frustrations surrounding overpayments and is actively working to alleviate the challenges being experienced by claimants. To ease the burden of overpayments on claimants, FloridaCommerce has requested to indefinitely defer all referrals to collection agencies for all non-fraudulent debts owed by claimants for state Reemployment Assistance benefits owed for weeks beginning March 1, 2020 through September 4, 2021. This request does not apply to fraudulent overpayments and FloridaCommerce will continue to investigate fraudulent overpayments to ensure individuals and bad actors are held accountable for their fraudulent actions in accordance with the law.

Federal and state law require FloridaCommerce to issue Notices of Disqualifications that may have overpayments attached. However, FloridaCommerce understands how confusing and overburdensome these federal and state requirements may be following the economic hardship experienced by claimants throughout the pandemic. FloridaCommerce continues to take a compassionate approach to helping claimants navigate the many complex federal and state unemployment requirements in law, including federal and state overpayment requirements.

In response, FloridaCommerce is taking proactive measures to relieve the impact these federal and state requirements may cause. For a complete overview on Reemployment Assistance Overpayments, view the following guide:

Reemployment Assistance Overpayment Guide

What is an Overpayment?

State and federal Reemployment Assistance overpayments occur when claimants receive benefits they were not eligible to receive due to a variety of factors. Overpayments may be created as a result of an ineligibility notice.

When FloridaCommerce determines an overpayment has occurred on a Reemployment Assistance claim because a claimant is determined ineligible, a Notice of Disqualification will be distributed based on the claimant’s correspondence preference. The Notice of Disqualification will state the claimant has an overpayment and the amount the claimant must repay. If the claimant disagrees with the Notice of Disqualification, the claimant has the right to appeal the Notice of Disqualification.

Examples of notices claimants may receive:

• Initial Disqualification with Overpayment – a notice to claimant that we have reviewed an issue on their account. They have been determined ineligible to receive benefits. The overpayment is attached because they were paid during the investigation before the determination was made and now they are determined ineligible, the benefits they previously received are overpaid.
• Federal/Supplemental Overpayment Notice – FloridaCommerce began issuing Notices of Disqualifications for both state and federal weekly benefit payments (state Reemployment Assistance PEUC, PUA, EB). This Notice of Disqualification provides the federal supplemental benefit (FPUC, LWA, MECU, etc) overpayments associated with the same weeks of the weekly benefit payments previously issued. In the “Reasonings and Findings,” claimants will see the Issue Identification Number associated with the initial Notice of Disqualification for the same weeks of unemployment.
• Redetermination Notice – FloridaCommerce previously determined the claimant eligible or ineligible and their eligibility status was redetermined after a request for reconsideration, an appeal decision, RAAC order, or court decision. A redetermination notice will be distributed as A Notice of Approval or Notice of Disqualification to the claimant. 
• Waiver Notice of Approval – The claimant requested that their federal overpayment be waived, and FloridaCommerce determined that they were eligible for the waiver, issuing an additional Notice of Approval.
• Waiver Notice of Disqualification – The claimant requested that their federal overpayment be waived, and FloridaCommerce determined that they were ineligible for the waiver, issuing an additional Notice of Disqualification. The claimant is responsible for repaying the overpaid benefits. However, if the claimant disagrees with the Notice of Disqualification, the claimant has the right to appeal the Notice of Disqualification. 

Claimant Options

Claimants may have the following options if an overpayment is established on their claim:

Overpayment Waiver - The overpayment waiver request form is only available for PUA, PEUC, FPUC, MEUC, and LWA overpayments. The overpayment waiver request form asks claimants specific questions to determine if the overpayment was due to no fault of the claimant and if recovery of the overpayment would be contrary to “equity and good conscience.”

• Federal Overpayment Waiver Request
• Overpayment Waiver Request Form

Appeals - Reemployment Assistance claimants who do not receive an overpayment waiver. All claimants who receive an ineligibility notice have the right to appeal.

• Reemployment Assistance Appeals
• Notice of Appeal Form

Repayment - Reemployment Assistance claimants who need to repay an overpayment.

• Repaying an Overpayment
• Repayment Form