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Report: #1266002

Complaint Review: Georgia Department of Labor - Atlanta Georgia

  • Submitted:
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  • Reported By: Kinga — Suwanee Georgia USA
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  • Georgia Department of Labor 148 Andrew Young International Blvd NE Atlanta, Georgia USA

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My husband received unemployment benefits in 2014 for three months after losing his main job ( he found a job after three months). I own my own business and also employ my husband paying him a very small amount ($300 a month). When my husband signed up for the unemployment, he completely forgot about this small income form my company, which per unemployment book would lower his benefits by $25 per week ( $75-$50=$25). I do not blame him for forgetting since I was the one who always deposited his salary into our joint account. He never really saw the money .And by the way, he used to make $12,000 a month in his main job.

Long story short. The Unemployment Overpayment Unit came after him this year accusing him of fraud and demanded the entire unemployment benefit back plus penalty $3,415! We obviously requested an appeal. He received a telephone hearing, the date they gave him was the day when he was traveling on business and was supposed to be on a plane at that time. He requested a different date but was denied without an explanation why, so much for supporting people who have jobs and are trying to keep them. SO he had to change his flight, paid extra $400 in extra fees, upset his current boss just to be able to talk to a hearing officer. And the hearing was a COMPLETE WASTE of time.

The hearing is a formality, Georgia Department of Labor must offer it by law but make no mistake, the decision is already made regardless of what you say to them. The hearing officer made a conclusion in her after hearing report that because it was my husband’s responsibility to remember to report all the earnings therefore by failing to do so he committed a fraud and must pay back. Since when forgetting something is the definition of fraud????!!! And doesn't the law say it must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that someone broke the law before calling him guilty. And again, we are talking about forgetting to report a whopping amount of weekly income of $25!!!

They want your money and they keep telling you that you knowingly committed unemployment fraud. So basically my husband would jeopardize loosing $2,745 just to gain extra $225 over the three months period! One would have to be completely insane to do that!!! He forgot, it was a human error, it was a very small amount that he wasn't even depositing. Georgia Department of Labor does not believe in human error, never mind that their employee sent a spread sheet with a sensitive personal information to over 1000 individuals by mistake which now turned into a Class action lawsuit or wasted $58.7 million in overpayments October 1, 2008, and March 31, 2011. Georgia Department of Labor has the right to make mistakes, we are not and we are very quickly called criminals over forgetting to report $25 to unemployment unit.

There is absolutely no common sense used in determining which case is a fraud and which is not. People are not perfect, they make mistakes. We do not mind to paying back $225 that he forgot to report but taking everything back with penalty and calling him a criminal is outrageous and predatory!  My husband reported everything to the best of his knowledge. We will also be calling the Governor to find out about our further options to appeal. There must be a more fair, impartial way to handle our case. Getting a hearing by Georgia Department of Labor employee is a JOKE! They Could NOT Care less about your explanation, they want your money. It is appalling the way they handle the appeals and treat everybody like a criminal!!!

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 11/05/2015 05:06 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/georgia-department-of-labor/atlanta-georgia/georgia-department-of-labor-overpayment-unit-georgia-department-of-labor-overpayment-unit-1266002. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
3Author
2Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#5 Author of original report

Take them to Court

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Monday, October 24, 2016

The only way to fight is to take them to court. Talking to the Dept of Labor is a WASTE OF TIME, trust me. They are NOT interested in listening to your arguments. The person that talked to my husbad on the phone was rude and she sounded like she was reading a script. It was obvious anything my husband said fell on death ears. The judge will listen to you.

 We hired an attorney but you can take them to court byyourself if you do not want to hire an attorney.

GOOD LUCK!

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#4 Consumer Comment

how did you appeal tothe court

AUTHOR: James - (USA)

POSTED: Sunday, October 23, 2016

Im having the same issue.Georgia dept oflabor cannot provide me with any banking or acct  information where those payments went,nor can they substantiate thier claim.how can i take themtocourt like you did

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#3 Author of original report

We won against Georgia Department of Labor !

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Tuesday, May 17, 2016

UPDATE:We took our case to court and we WON! the JUDGE ordered Georgia Department of Labor the waive the ridiculous penalty. The conclusion is that either Georgia Department of Labor hires incompetent idiots to review your case or they hire people who have no problem being dishonest and do whatever it takes to rip you off.

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#2 Author of original report

Disagree

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Saturday, November 07, 2015

 

 Interesting statement.  So are you saying that posting the $300/month job would disqualify him from the unemployment benefits?

No, what I am saying is that had he remembered to report $300/month ($75 per week because you are supposed to report weekly gross income even if you are not paid weekly) his weekly unemployment benefits would have been lowered by $25.  The Unemployment Claimant Handbook, page 28 reads:

 

Earnings: Report gross earnings (the amount earned before taxes and other deductions) when claiming weekly benefits, (even if it is only $1). Earnings over $50 per week are deducted from your weekly payment dollar for dollar.

 

His weekly earnings were $75 - $75-$50=$25. Twenty five dollars would have been deducted from his weekly unemployment benefits. Who on Earth would want to lie just to get this extra $25 weekly. Seriously!!!!!! I spend more than that per week on a coffee.

 Wrong.  First of all if you read reports that employee was suspended, so yes if the person made a "mistake" I guess you can say they don't believe in human error, because they would have just kept that person on the job. 

The person was suspended ...hm ,that is harsh, she/he put 1000 people in high risk and all she/he got is a suspension. I wonder if it was a suspension with or without pay. Suspended does not mean fired. I wonder where this employee is now. As for the Class Action Lawsuit (information taken from google) the verdict is yet to be seen.

Again did he sign or submit a form that stated he is reporting all of his income and not leaving anything off...I would bet yes?  Did he do that..NO.   That is EXACTLY why you lost.  Now, had this been for 1 month..perhaps it could be seen but 3 months?  And not once did you say or bring up to remind him that he needs to report the $300 your business is paying him?  Or are you going to come here and say that your business is on such an "automatic pilot" that you also forgot you are paying him this money.

Yes, of course he signed he is reporting all of his income because that is what he believed was true. He forgot about the $75 weekly because first of  all it was me who was depositing it and I was not depositing it weekly but monthly. For all those who are married, I would take a guess you do not check if your partner paid the bills for water, gas etc. You just assume they do it. I assumed he reported his monthly income from my company, I did not check on him, maybe I should have. No, I did not forget my companywas paying him. That is not the point of the situation at all.  And to be precise, he was not collecting unemployment for 3 months, it was exactly 9 weeks. 9 weeks x $25 overpayment of benefits= $225.  Georgia Department of Labor wants all his benefits back plus penalty and calls my husband a criminal all because of $225 error. 

I do understand there are dishonest people out there who try to be cheat the system. But I think there should be some common sense used in analyzing the cases. My husband is a well respected executive who has worked all his life. And telling him he knowingly made false statements is really aggravating. So because it is Georgia Department Of Labor who says so then it MUST be true???

We would like to refund the $225 even with penalty, but demanding everything back is NOT RIGHT!

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#1 Consumer Comment

You were not innocent

AUTHOR: Robert - (USA)

POSTED: Saturday, November 07, 2015

"Innocent" would have been them accusing your husband of not reporting income where in fact he did report all of his income. That is NOT what happened.


So basically my husband would jeopardize loosing $2,745 just to gain extra $225 over the three months period!

- Interesting statement.  So are you saying that posting the $300/month job would disqualify him from the unemployment benefits?   If that is the case then anything but giving them back the entire amount of benefits IS fraud.  As for the penalty, if you get out of this with just a monetary "penalty" you probably should consider yourself very lucky.  As in a worst case it could end your husband up in jail.


Georgia Department of Labor does not believe in human error, never mind that their employee sent a spread sheet with a sensitive personal information to over 1000 individuals by mistake which now turned into a Class action lawsuit

- Wrong.  First of all if you read reports that employee was suspended, so yes if the person made a "mistake" I guess you can say they don't believe in human error, because they would have just kept that person on the job.  Of course the 1000 people who started the Class Action Lawsuit(according to you) must not believe in Human Error.  Because if they did they would have just let the entire thing go...right.  By the way if the lawsuit is(was) successful isn't the department of labor being held accountable for this "mistake"?

Georgia Department of Labor has the right to make mistakes, we are not and we are very quickly called criminals over forgetting to report $25 to unemployment unit.

- Wrong..Your husband forgot to report $900 of income to the Unemployement Unit.  As he is supposed to report his income not what he was supposed to receive.  And that claim is the root of your entire issue.

Now don't get me wrong, does it suck that they are coming after you..of course.  But the fact is that your husband did "forget" this income and I can just about guarantee you that when he signed/submitted the form there was an entire section on fraud and having the person understand that they must declare all of their income. 

 Since when forgetting something is the definition of fraud????!!! And doesn't the law say it must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that someone broke the law before calling him guilty.

- Again did he sign or submit a form that stated he is reporting all of his income and not leaving anything off...I would bet yes?  Did he do that..NO.   That is EXACTLY why you lost.  Now, had this been for 1 month..perhaps it could be seen but 3 months?  And not once did you say or bring up to remind him that he needs to report the $300 your business is paying him?  Or are you going to come here and say that your business is on such an "automatic pilot" that you also forgot you are paying him this money.

 

 

 

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