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:
“You are receiving this notice because you received unemployment benefits to which you are not entitled and federal law requires that you be notified of an overpayment. However, you do not need to repay these benefits because these payments were issued incorrectly through no fault of your own, and repayment would be contrary to equity and good conscience. This is called a Waiver of Repayment…”
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 mail date of your Determination of Overpayment notice.
To be considered for a waiver of your overpayment, please submit this Overpayment Request digital form online, or download one of the following forms and return it to the DES Benefit Payment Control Unit (BPC) by email:
If you have any questions, please call the BPC at (602) 364-4300. DES will notify you in writing of the result of your waiver request. If your waiver request is denied, you will have 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.
In order to submit a waiver request, you will need to provide:
- Your Claimant ID (which is located at the top of your Determination of Overpayment notice)
- The reason you feel you should not or cannot repay the overpayment
- Your correct mailing address and telephone number
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 Benefit Payment Control Unit by phone at 602-364-4300 or email to UI Waiver Requests.