Missouri lawmakers to decide fairness of unemployment repayments

(The Center Square) – It is not unusual for the Missouri Department of Labor to make residents repay unemployment benefits for which they did not qualify after the state paid out thousands of dollars to them, a University of Missouri professor said.

“This policy isn’t unusual to unemployment benefits or to the CARES Act,” Lael Keiser, the director of the Truman School and a professor at the University of Missouri, told The Center Square.

The question is if it is the right thing to do.

“There’s not … one right answer. One could argue it’s fair to have people pay back and one can also argue that it’s not fair, or that it’s not the right thing to do,” Keiser said. “But that’s really something for the voters to decide.”

Legislators can make that call in their role as elected representatives of the voters, she said.

“When I teach public policy, we talk about what is fair. And that is, there isn’t one answer. People have distinct different views about what is fair. And I think this is just another example of that,” Keiser said. “And that’s why you have elected representatives that can reflect what the will of the people is and deciding what is fair.”

If people don’t like the state’s decision, or however they feel about it, they should communicate their views to their elected representatives who have the power to change it, she said. The governor has power through his political appointments to run the agencies, giving him some influence. Residents can contact his office with their views also.

From what she learned about the state’s actions, repayment is required in state statutes, she said.

“So that’s something that agency is required to do. But they do have this option that the federal government gave, this option to waive those overpayments if it is against equity or good conscience,” Keiser said. “And I think what I interpreted the equity part of it is that they can’t waive it for some people and not for others without making sure they’re treating people similarly.

“The second question is, is it of good conscience, which again is a question… that I think is decided through the political system where our representatives decide what we as a state would like to do,” Keiser said.

As a policy expert, she said, that isn’t a question she can answer.

“It’s the will of the people what they want to do in this particular case, in terms of waiving it,” she told The Center Square.

A third issue is how the state collects the overpayment. Typically, if the state is trying to act in the public good, it doesn’t want to collect it in a way that’s really harmful, she said.

“Turning people over to a collection agency, you know that raises some concerns … that you’re harming people, especially right now in a pandemic,” Keiser said.

How to manage a payment plan is something the state needs to figure out how to do in a way that represents Missouri values, she said.

Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square