New York’s Labor Department Wants Your Unemployment Benefits Back
In New York, unemployment recipients can be found guilty of fraud even if they thought their information was true. The state demands repayment at the highest rate in the country.
![The New York State Department of Labor office in Brooklyn, New York.](https://imgproxy.gridwork.co/9UCHkF1XJ1UQwHvZbR711BY-3etX3U9KhOKJ79BgFVs/w:820/h:546/rt:fill/g:fp:0.5:0.5/q:90/f:jpg/el:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy51cy1lYXN0LTIuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9ueXNmb2N1cy9kb2wtZXh0ZXJpb3IuanBn.jpg)
“You can have committed fraud, according to the court, even if you believe the information you gave to be true.”
“Even if I don’t have a roof over my head, I’m not going to ask for unemployment benefits ever again.”
![DOL Commissioner Roberta Reardon (red jacket, left) with Governor Kathy Hochul at a Women's Equality Day event in Albany on August 26, 2022.](https://imgproxy.gridwork.co/-zlya4RbAbTMi5WDWwL451NJn6c_RtBIgjXRNjG5lLQ/w:820/h:517/rt:fill/g:fp:0.5:0.5/q:90/el:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy51cy1lYXN0LTIuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9ueXNmb2N1cy9yZWFyZG9uLWhvY2h1bC5qcGc.jpg)
“There are hundreds if not thousands throughout the state that give up.”
Correction: May 10, 2024 — An earlier version of this article stated that New York found nearly two-thirds of overpayment cases from 2020 to 2023 to be fraudulent. In fact, it found nearly two-thirds of the total amount of money overpaid in those cases to be fraudulent.
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