Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler
On Wednesday, United States Representatives Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, and Sephanie Murphy, D-Florida, introduced legislation to issue hardship waivers for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) overpayments by state unemployment agencies.
According to a news release, recent reports have detailed that unemployed and furloughed workers are finding themselves in debt because of errors made by state unemployment agencies.
H.R. 8812, the Relief for Working Families Act, would extend hardship waivers to states to waive PUA overpayments when the individual receiving the jobless benefits is not at fault. States are able to grant the waivers to individuals who receive state unemployment benefits.
“Washington’s Employment Security Department should not be further burdening struggling workers because of its mistakes. Until it can develop a system to more accurately administer unemployment benefits, we should give ESD the tools to provide relief to folks struggling to put food on the table,” Herrera Beutler said in the news release. “I’m introducing legislation that ensures individuals are not held accountable for states’ mismanagement of jobless benefits, but that preserves states’ abilities to crack down on scams and seek repayment of truly fraudulent claims.”
