COLUMBUS (WCMH) — When the pandemic hit, thousands of Ohioans were out of a job, and turned to federal programs for financial help.
Many of them, though, experienced difficulty receiving their benefits. Some were even told to pay some of that money back, like Bryan Kirk. The self-employed Madison County man applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance when coronavirus put his job on hold.
“I received a determination letter that indicates how much you will receive, and in my case, it was $480 a week,” said Kirk.
But just a few months later, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services sent Kirk a second letter.
“They indicated that I had an overpayment, that I owed them back, in the amount of $7,566.”
Kirk has tried repeatedly to contact the department to appeal the overpayment.
“I called at 8 o’clock, when they opened, and I waited 2 hours and 47 minutes … just to have then, after 2 hours 47 minutes a recording come over the phone saying, ‘We apologize but we can’t take your call at this time, due to the high volume of calls.'”
Dozens of you called and wrote to Better Call 4 with similar stories: Thousands of dollars in overpayments owed, unsuccessful attempts to contact the department, or waiting on the phone for hours with no resolution.
You’ve also taken your frustrations to government leaders.
“We know that when we hear from hundreds of people, that it means there are thousands or even more, who are having problems,” said Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown.
We reached out to him and Republican Senator Rob Portman about the number of Ohioans who can’t get in touch with the Department of Job and Family Services.
“First, they get laid off, that’s bad enough. Then when they try to put their lives together and call the unemployment bureau, they’re too often put on hold.”
Senator Brown also said state leaders should be the ones to open the lines of communication, carry the load for Ohioans who have not received benefits, and cover the cost of overpayments.
After we contacted Senator Brown last week, he sent a letter to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, urging him to “take action to improve the accessibility and quality of ODJFS services” by fully supporting employees.
“The governor and the legislature need to hire more people at the bureau, the unemployment bureau, number one. And number two, they need to upgrade the technology,” said Senator Brown.
The letter goes on to say that Ohioans are “still being forced to repay unemployment insurance overpayments even when the errors were made through no fault of their own.”
“I think the overpayments come from general mistakes, because people are overworked. I am asking that the state bear the responsibility here, not the individual worker, who’s struggling with their unemployment,” said Senator Brown.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Senator Portman told Better Call 4 that the senator has “worked tirelessly over the past few weeks to negotiate a COVID-19 relief package, to provide additional help to those receiving unemployment assistance, including to resolve this very issue.”
So far, the governor has not responded to Senator Brown’s call for additional assistance.
When we initially spoke with the Department of Job and Family Services earlier this month, Director Kimberly Hall told us the issue of overpayments was a federal issue, with which the department was forced to comply.
But our conversation with Senator Brown puts the responsibility back on the state, and right now, Ohioans are stuck in the middle, without answers.
Better Call 4 will continue to follow this and push for a solution.