The troubled Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development is reporting it overpaid $44 million to people receiving unemployment benefits.
One woman says she got a notice from the state asking her to pay back $16,200. Stephanie Russell says she got benefits for three or four weeks, but nothing close to $16,000.
A DWD official says the department can waive the overpayment if it is at fault. The problem is, the legal definition of “departmental error” has changed.
About 62,000 benefit recipients waited weeks, and even months, to get checks from the state. Now, they are being told to pay some or all of it back.
