The most common types of UI fraud are:

• Claiming benefits without looking for work;
• Returning to work while collecting benefits and not reporting earnings; 
• Withholding information from the Division of Employment Security or Division of Workforce Solutions; 
• Performing temporary or pick up work and not reporting earnings; 
• Reporting inaccurate hours and earnings; 
• Collecting benefits based on false or inaccurate information; 
• Claiming benefits while unable or available for work; 
• Helping others claim benefits to which they are not entitled; and
• Identity theft.

• You will pay an additional 15% of the overpaid amount as a penalty.
• You will be disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits for one year.
• You may be prosecuted for a Class 1 Felony and face a fine and up to 12 months in prison.
• If the overpayment is more than $400, you may be prosecuted.

An audit of your unemployment insurance claim indicated that you may have received benefits that you were not eligible to receive. An investigation is required to determine the accuracy of your benefit payments.

The Division of Employment Security receives wage information from past and current employers and crossmatches that information with unemployment claims data.  

If you do not appear or do not provide a written statement, the case will be adjudicated and decided without your input.

The National Directory of New Hires provides employment and unemployment insurance information to enable state child support agencies to be more effective in locating noncustodial parents and establishing and enforcing child support orders. The Division of Employment Security cross references its benefits information with the NDNH database to identify individuals who may have returned to work but continue to file for unemployment insurance benefits.

The notice requires that you respond within 14 days from the date of the notice. If you fail to respond by the requested deadline, your benefits will be interrupted.

You may have received multiple notices for a variety of reasons, such as your employer has submitted your information to National Directory of New Hires with different start dates, multiple employers have reported your hire to NDNH or you were recently re-hired. If you receive multiple notices, complete each as accurately as possible and submit them to the Division of Employment Security by the requested deadlines.

You may respond to the notice by:

Fax: 919-857-1296

Mail:  

Yes. If your claim is reversed on appeal, the benefits received will be an overpayment subject to repayment to the Division of Employment Security. The law, G.S.§96-18(g)(2), requires that all overpayments be repaid to DES.

You may file a written appeal of an overpayment determination. You have 30 days from the date the overpayment determination is mailed to file an appeal. You may submit your appeal to the mailing address, fax or email address provided in the determination. An evidentiary hearing will be scheduled in your case. You will receive a hearing notice with instructions after your appeal is received.

The Employment Security Law permits the Division of Employment Security to garnish your federal income tax refund to repay any fraud overpayment or overpayments caused by your failure to report your earnings. DES may also garnish your state income tax refund to recoup any type of overpayment balance.

You must repay your overpayment balance in full to prevent interception of your state and/or federal tax refunds. If you cannot repay the balance, you may enter into a payment agreement by contacting a Division of Employment Security recovery specialist at 919-707-1338. The standard payment agreement must include a down payment. All additional payments must be received as scheduled.

• Your federal and state tax refunds will be intercepted until your overpayment is resolved.
• Any North Carolina lottery winnings will be intercepted. 
• All future unemployment insurance benefits may be intercepted until your overpayment is resolved.
• Intangible property and/or wages may be attached or garnished.
• The Division of Employment Security may seek criminal prosecution and/or pursue civil court action against you.
• If you obtain employment in North Carolina State government, the overpayment may be recouped pursuant to G.S. §143-553.

If you suspect that someone is committing fraud, you may report them by using the DES Fraud Reporting Form.

A waiver is forgiveness of an overpayment debt. To be considered for a waiver, your overpayment must meet the following criteria:

• Classified as Non-Fraud *
• Overpayment was caused through no fault of the claimant
• All appeals to the decision that created the overpayment are completed or the time to appeal has expired

* Fraudulent overpayments or overpayments of Disaster Unemployment Assistance paid with FEMA funds CANNOT be waived.

Waiver petitions must be submitted in writing to DES through your online account, by fax or by mail. There is not a form for a waiver petition.

• Full name
• Claimant ID
• Statement that you are requesting a waiver
• The reason why the debt should be forgiven
• Any documentation that you think may support the request for a waiver (optional)

1. Online through your DES online account
2. Faxed to 919-857-1296
3. Mailed to: 

You may file a petition for waiver after the decision that caused the overpayment is final. All appeals to the decision that created the overpayment have to be completed or the time to appeal has to have expired.

No. The waiver petition is not an opportunity to challenge the disqualification that caused the overpayment. If you disagree with the facts of the disqualification that resulted in the overpayment, you should follow the appeal process.

You may not appeal to a waiver decision as it is the final decision of DES on the matter.  If the waiver petition is denied, you can’t then go back and appeal the disqualification causing the overpayment.

A waiver petition can only be filed once for a particular overpayment. The waiver may be allowed in whole, in part or not at all. 

A waiver petition decision has no impact on your eligibility or entitlement for unemployment insurance benefits.

You may submit a waiver petition for multiple overpayments. However, if you submit a waiver petition for only one overpayment, only that overpayment will be considered. If you have any overpayment(s) not covered by a waiver petition allowance, you will still be required to repay any balance due on any remaining overpayment.

Once the decision is made, it will be mailed and posted to the ‘Documents’ section of your DES online account home page. Decisions are made in the order in which the petitions are received.