PARMA, Ohio — A Parma business owner said the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS) is demanding he repay thousands of dollars in pandemic unemployment assistance as part of efforts to reclaim funds given to fraudsters.
"I filed everything properly," said Brian Glinka. "Why you picking on me?
Pandemic problems
At the start of the pandemic, Glinka said his business slowed to a standstill.
"It was nonexistent," he said.
Glinka has owned Brave Carpet Cleaning since 1999, which cleans carpets, furniture, and tile.
He was relieved when Congress created Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) for self-employed workers and other workers who do not qualify for traditional unemployment benefits as part of its massive coronavirus relief bill in March 2020.
PUA ended in September 2021.
"It wasn’t what I would make," he said. "But it helped."
Unwelcome surprises
Eventually, Glinka said his business bounced back.
He thought the pandemonium of the pandemic was behind him.
It wasn't.
Last November, when Glinka tried to cash a winning lottery ticket, "they told me I was denied and to call the attorney general’s office," he said. "I was embarrassed."
Then, letters from a collection agency showed up in his mailbox.
The letters said Glinka had to pay back all of his PUA benefits, which totaled more than $26,000.
"Why did they even offer it if they’re gonna want it back?" he asked.
"I totally get that people weren’t honest," he said. "I’m not that guy."
Not over yet
In general, unemployed workers who received PUA do not have to pay back their pandemic benefits.
So what happened to Glinka?
It turned out he had missed a deadline to verify his personal information with the ODJFS, which administers the state's unemployment program.
Glinka said he was unaware he had been asked to supply the state with any information. After work picked up, he said he stopped logging in to his unemployment account.
"Once unemployment is over, why go on that website?" he asked.
"I haven’t filed for a year and a half, two years, but I guess I was supposed to know to go on the website."
Glinka said he appealed to the state twice and was denied because he had missed the verification deadline.
Flagged for fraud
"While we don’t want to countenance fraud, I think we got to give people a break," said Zach Schiller, Research Director, Policy Matters Ohio.
Schiller has written about problems with Ohio's unemployment system for two decades at the nonpartisan, nonprofit research institute.
"This was an extraordinary situation," he said. "We’re not saying we should continuously allow people to get payments that they’re not entitled to, but let’s be charitable."
In a news release, the ODJFS said it identified approximately $6.9 billion in fraud and non-fraudulent overpayments during the pandemic.
"The number of people who are ultimately being found to be fraudsters is a fraction of that," Schiller said. "So what does that mean? That means that we’ve got significant numbers of legitimate claimants who are having their claims held up for possible fraud who are not, in fact, fraudsters."
Here's the breakdown from ODJFS's release:
• $190 million in fraudulent overpayments in the traditional unemployment system.
• $1 billion in fraudulent PUA overpayments.
• $899 million in non-fraud overpayments in the traditional unemployment system.
• $4.8 billion in non-fraud PUA overpayments.
Last resort
News 5 found Glinka can still file an appeal with the Ohio Unemployment Review Commission, an independent entity that reviews ODJFS unemployment insurance decisions and decides whether to uphold, modify, or reverse them.
The UCRC received approximately 18,000 appeals in 2023, according to a spokesperson. About 600 or 3% were related to PUA.
Totals on the number of claims upheld or reversed were unavailable by our deadline.
"I really need to get this figured out," Glinka said, "Get this wiped off... and I want my lottery ticket money too!"
Warning for PUA recipients
ODJFS recently renewed efforts to claw back taxpayer dollars dispersed to fraudsters during the pandemic.
In an email, ODJFS Public Information Officer Tom Betti wrote that ODJFS sent two letters to PUA recipients flagged for fraud.
If you receive the letters and are a legitimate claimant, Betti said you should submit the required documents and appeal.
Betti said ODJFS also sent an email to PUA recipients. (See example below.)
Betti wrote that, "Official ODJFS PUA emails come from “PUA@unemployment.ohio.gov” with the subject of “Notification from ODJFS.”
Betti noted there is social media chatter the email is a scam.
He wrote, "ODJFS encourages recipients of this email to open, logon to their account, and review correspondence carefully. They will have 21 days to file an appeal and submit documents to prove their identity."
Below is Betti's email message to News 5:
"As part of the agency’s anti-fraud measures examining pandemic-era claims to ensure they were legitimately paid out, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) recently sent determination notices to certain Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) recipients that lacked the proper identification documents in their accounts and were flagged as fraud.
If a claimant believes their claim is legitimate, ODJFS encourages them to appeal and provide the required documentation through the online portal: https://puaa.jfs.ohio.gov/. The circumstances and appeal outcomes for each claim are unique, but more than likely, after a PUA claimant has verified their identity through this appeal process, their account should be rectified.
A variety of new safeguards are in place to prevent fraudulent unemployment claims and ODJFS continues to work with law enforcement to help facilitate the recovery of funds and hold scammers accountable under the law. On November 17, 2023, ODJFS released an Unemployment Overpayments Update. The overpayments are attributable to both fraudulent and non-fraudulent activity in both the traditional unemployment and PUA programs."
