Unemployment Insurance Overpayment Waivers
What is a waiver?
A waiver means you are no longer liable to pay back the amount that was waived from your overpayment. DES evaluates overpayments at the time of establishment to determine whether a waiver can be granted and if so, DES will waive the overpayment on your behalf and send you a notice letting you know your repayment obligation has been waived. If DES does not grant a waiver on your behalf, you can still submit a request for a waiver.
My Determination of Overpayment notice says “payment obligation was waived.” What does that mean?
If you receive a Determination of Overpayment that states:
"This determination has been sent to you because you were paid unemployment benefits that you were not entitled to receive, and federal law requires that we notify you of this overpayment. However, you are not required to repay these benefits because they were issued through no fault of your own. This is called a Waiver of Repayment. The overpayment balance for this overpayment has been waived in full, which means you do not have to do anything further."
This means DES has reviewed the overpayment and determined that you do not have to pay back the benefits you received for these specific weeks because you received them through no fault of your own and it would be against equity and good conscience to require repayment.
You do not have to do anything further if DES has waived the recovery of an overpayment.
I have not received a waiver but I want to request one. How do I request a waiver?
Before submitting a request for a waiver, be sure your overpayment is classified as Administrative. If you have an overpayment with a “Fraud/Fraudulent” or “Non-fraud/Non-Fraudulent” classification, you are not eligible for a waiver.
If the classification on your overpayment is “Fraud/Fraudulent” or “Non-fraud/Non-Fraudulent” and you do not agree with the classification of overpayment, you may appeal the classification within 15 days of the issued date of your Determination of Overpayment notice.
To be considered for a waiver of your overpayment, please request a waiver through CACTUS by clicking the button “Request Waiver” next to your overpayment.
If you experience technical difficulties or are facing hardships, you may contact the Arizona Unemployment Insurance Call Center at the toll-free 1 (877) 600-2722 and request to file a waiver with the staff during the call.
DES will notify you in writing of the result of your waiver request. If your waiver request is denied, you will receive the Overpayment Waiver Determination via CACTUS and will be provided with the opportunity to appeal the determination. If your waiver request is approved, you will receive a notice of your waiver approval. Note, if you have more than one overpayment, you must submit a separate waiver request for each one.
I received an email or phone call from DES requesting I provide information to be considered for a waiver. Is this request legitimate?
In some situations, DES may contact you by phone or email in order to determine if you are eligible for a waiver. In these situations, we may ask you to fill out and return forms either electronically or by paper.
If you have received an email or phone call from the Department requesting you to provide information to be considered for a waiver and you have any questions or concerns, you may contact the DES AZ UI Call Center by phone at Toll Free: 1 (877) 600-2722.