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Advocates push legislature to ease UI overpayment rules, update eligibility for fluctuating schedules
Summary
Legal services groups, advocates and lawmakers urged the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development to pass bills that change unemployment insurance eligibility for workers with variable schedules and to ease collection of non‑fault overpayments.
BOSTON — Advocates for low‑wage and irregular‑hour workers told the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development on Oct. 14 that Massachusetts should change how the Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) calculates eligibility and how it recovers non‑fault overpayments.
Supporters said the current eligibility formula penalizes workers with fluctuating schedules and earnings and that many outstanding overpayments stem from federal pandemic programs or administrative errors rather than claimant misconduct.
Hannah Tanabe, a senior attorney in the workers' rights unit at Greater Boston Legal Services, testified in support of Senate Bill 1334 and House Bill 2111. “This bill provides a small modification to our UI law to cure an…
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