Illinois residents who were overpaid unemployment benefits may get to keep it

Almost 76,000 Illinois residents received $123 million in excess regular unemployment benefits, according to the latest developments, these residents can keep the money unless they've already repaid it.

These people were paid the extra benefits for no fault of their own. Therefore Governor J.B. Pritzker signed legislation that became law that those who were overpaid can apply for a permanent waiver that would prevent the state from recovering the extra funds. This incident looks at a larger issue which is the flaws in the Illinois Department of Employment Security. The department has been flooded with flaws, fraud, and backlogs. It got overwhelmed when the state saw a sudden massive influx of unemployment benefits claims. In March the state paid $19.7 billion in benefits to 1.5 million recipients. The IDES offices were overcrowded during the initial month of the pandemic and getting through seemed like a hassle.  Due to this many IDES offices throughout the state remained closed during the pandemic. The state hopes to reopen its American job Centres in a phased manner. People who have already repaid the extra funds will not be considered under the new law as the IDES does not have the authority to pay the funds they've already recouped. 

Source: The Pantagraph