When the Department of Economic Opportunity asked Cherryl Faye to return the $3,300 unemployment benefits she received last year she said she started to panic. “They’re saying I have to pay the money back,” Faye said. “They say they discovered I had no wages in 2019.” Ironically, the DEO sent her a complete monetary summary in May 2020, which it called “proof” that Faye was eligible for state unemployment benefits.
In a second letter written in August the DEO presented a different monetary summary that showed Faye earned no wages in 2019. “Everything was zeroed out,” Faye said, “It was [as] if my wages in 2019 were non-existent!” Faye said after she contacted the DEO office to challenge the finding and an employee acknowledged it was all a