The New Jersey Business & Industry Association supports A-2536 (DeAngelo, D-14; Giblin, D-34), a bill that requires the state Treasury Department to collect unemployment benefits from recipients who should not have been paid those funds.
The legislation directs the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to file a notice of debt with the Treasury Department that will allow the state to pursue unemployment benefits that have been wrongly paid, whether by mistake or through fraud. The legislation also allows the state to file an application with the Administrative Law Office to garnish the wages of the individual so that the state may recoup the overpayment.
“While the state may now seek to go after unemployment benefits that have been wrongly paid, this legislation would put in place a law requiring the state to collect these funds,” said Michael Wallace, NJBIA director of Employment , Labor Policy and Federal Affairs.
“Unemployment insurance is intended for those who need assistance during a difficult period in their lives and we need to protect those funds,” Wallace said. “If individuals are collecting unemployment either by mistake or through fraud, they should pay those funds back. If they don’t pay them back, then the state should be required to collect the overpayment.”
The Assembly approved the bill today and sent it to the Senate.
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