Extra $300 Payments Will no Longer be Given to Unemployed Texans
The Federal Emergency Management Agency notified state officials Wednesday that the payments for out-of-work Texans have ended, according to the Texas Workforce Commission, which handles unemployment claims.
Unemployed Texans will no longer receive an extra $300 in weekly payments
"Unemployed Texans will no longer receive an extra $300 in weekly payments" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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Texans receiving unemployment benefits who qualified for an extra $300 in weekly jobless payments issued by the Trump administration will no longer receive the additional funds after claims from last week are paid, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
The agency, which processes unemployment claims, said in a news release Wednesday afternoon it had been notified of the news by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provided the funds. Roughly 1.8 million Texans currently receive the $300 payment, according to the workforce commission.
It’s unclear whether more federal relief could be on the way for unemployed Texans. According to a report by The Washington Post on Wednesday, White House officials were considering an additional round of executive actions, including one to address unemployment benefits.
In August, President Donald Trump announced the extra weekly payments after an additional $600 weekly payment approved by Congress to help offset losses tied to the pandemic expired in July. The Trump administration said the federal government would provide $300 per week and that states could decide whether to contribute an additional $100, which Texas did not do. The state applied for federal funding roughly two weeks after the president issued his order.
Since the pandemic began in March, nearly 3.4 million Texans had applied for unemployment assistance as of Aug. 29. Texas has seen record-worst jobless rates in the months since the start of the pandemic, and the state's economy has, as the state comptroller has described multiple times, entered into a recession.
After news of the additional funding was made, the workforce commission said over 347,000 Texans receiving unemployment benefits would not qualify for the additional $300 weekly payment as of Aug. 24. A spokesperson for the agency said some people did not qualify because they did not indicate they had lost their jobs because of the pandemic when they filed for unemployment. Others did not qualify because they were receiving less than $100 in weekly unemployment benefits.
Disclosure: The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/09/09/300-unemployment-texas/.
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TWC Won't Collect Overpaid Unemployment Benefits
A Texas Workforce Commission spokesperson said he was previously unaware that a judicial order bars the state from recovering funds when the overpayment is the agency's fault.
Texas reverses course, says it won't collect overpaid unemployment benefits in instances when it was the state's mistake
"Texas reverses course, says it won't collect overpaid unemployment benefits in instances when it was the state's mistake" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Workers who lost their jobs and received overpayments from the Texas Workforce Commission won’t have to pay back those unemployment benefits if it was the state’s mistake, commission officials now say.
That's different from the agency's previous insistence, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, that the 46,000 Texans who received overpayments in recent months would have to pay the state back — even if they were not to blame.
“Texas is prevented by court order from collecting overpayments caused solely by the commission's error,” spokesperson Cisco Gamez said Wednesday during a media update posted on Facebook. That court order, which Gamez said he was previously unaware of, dates to 1978.
"I have to apologize for giving you information that was not more clear," Gamez wrote in an email to The Texas Tribune on Thursday.
The agency is seeking $32 million in unemployment benefits back. The commission is unsure how many people were overpaid because of a TWC error but says it’s very rare. Last year, according to a U.S. Department of Labor audit, TWC was responsible for 0.4% of incorrect payments.
“Anecdotally, there are roughly eight to 10 of these types of errors identified each year,” Gamez said Monday.
In most cases, overpayments occur because applicants report incorrect information or are not eligible, according to the agency.
Claimants who have received notices about overpayments can appeal the process, but TWC can take legal action if it doesn’t recover the money. If TWC finds unemployment fraud in a case, the person has to give back the benefits and pay a 15% penalty.
“There is no statute of limitations on debts owed to the state,” Gamez wrote in a previous email. “TWC cannot forgive or dismiss the overpayment and there is no exception for hardship.”
After two months of decline, unemployment claims have started to increase in Texas again. More than 117,244 people applied for unemployment claims last week, an increase of 21.4% compared with the week before. It was the second week in a row that the number of claims rose. Since mid-March, nearly 2.8 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in Texas.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/09/texas-unemployment-overpayment/.
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International students at Texas universities can’t return without in-person classes
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 visa holders in the United States under the Student Exchange Visitor Program will not be allowed to enter or stay in the country if they are attending American schools that will offer only online classes this fall.
“It’s insane that this is not even up to me”: International students at Texas universities can’t return without in-person classes
"“It’s insane that this is not even up to me”: International students at Texas universities can’t return without in-person classes" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
When University of Texas at Austin senior Stephanie Flores-Reyes checked her fall course schedule earlier this week, she was shocked to see all five of her classes were slated to only be online. But as an international student from Mexico who spends the school year here on an F-1 student visa, it could suddenly be problematic for Flores-Reyes to be enrolled only in classes that meet online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 visa holders in the United States under the Student Exchange Visitor Program will not be allowed to enter or stay in the country if they are attending American schools that will offer only online classes this fall. Instead, they must either transfer to a school with in-person instruction or “potentially face immigration consequences," according to a release.
For students attending schools with hybrid plans, the category most Texas universities will fall under as they forge ahead with a mixture of in-person and online classes this fall, colleges must certify to ICE that the students are enrolled in the minimum number of classes required to progress through their degree plans at a normal speed — and that they are "not taking an entirely online course load" this fall.
Flores-Reyes chose her courses carefully in order to graduate on time next May. She doesn’t want to budge from her schedule, which could potentially delay her degree progress, but having all online classes means she can’t return to the U.S.
"It's insane that this is not even up to me," Flores-Reyes said. "I can't make those decisions. If I'd known, obviously I would have chosen in-person classes."
On Wednesday, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a lawsuit against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, seeking a temporary restraining order against the policy. Harvard announced its move to full online instruction for the 2020-21 academic year earlier this month. No Texas university has yet said it has similar intentions.
ICE's new guidance drew heavy criticism from education groups.
"We urge the administration to rethink its position and offer international students and institutions the flexibility needed to put a new normal into effect and take into account the health and safety of our students in the upcoming academic year," the American Council on Education said in a statement.
The move also has some higher education experts worried about what will happen if more classes get pushed online, even if a school is designated to be hybrid.
“The online-only rule is a good one, if it allows international students to enroll, take classes and not have to come to campus,” said Michael Olivas, the former director of the University of Houston’s Institute for Higher Education Law. “But ... there’s a tidal wave of online classes coming our way, to hybrid schools. And if the international students that are here have to return to their home country midway, that’s going to be bad.”
Olivas said the hope is that if universities transition to online-only classes midway through the semester, ICE will be flexible and implement special-circumstance rules similar to those that helped the same group of students when the pandemic swept the country earlier this year.
But Student Exchange Visitor Program documents indicate that may not be the case.
“If a school changes its operational stance mid-semester, and as a result a nonimmigrant student switches to only online classes, or a nonimmigrant student changes their course selections, and as a result, ends up taking an entirely online course load, schools are reminded that nonimmigrant students ... are not permitted to take a full course of study through online classes,” the new guidance reads. “If nonimmigrant students find themselves in this situation, they must leave the country or take alternative steps ... such as transfer to a school with in-person instruction.”
ICE's decision could potentially alter fall plans for thousands of international students in the state. At UT-Austin alone, there are more than 5,000 international students, according to the school’s international office. Spokesperson Fiona Mazurenko said in an email that staff members are working to respond to and support students with the limited information they have received, but declined to comment on how situations like Flores-Reyes' would be handled.
"We continue to advise all F-1 students to enroll in classes designated as in-person or web-enhanced," Mazurenko said in the email.
The University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at El Paso also said they would work with each international student to make sure that their course schedule meets federal requirements for F-1 visas. Texas A&M University said it was monitoring the situation and would update students as more information became available.
On Wednesday, University of Houston President Renu Khator said in a tweet that the university would work with international students to support their education.
"As a university with global footprint, we deeply value what international students bring to our classrooms, research labs and to the campus in general," she said.
Some Texas faculty members are considering taking matters into their own hands. David Arditi, a sociology professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, said he would do an independent study course for international students so that they could have the requisite in-person instruction required to stay in the country.
Arditi said he would not be compensated for the independent study course. He views this as a necessary way to protect international students – an "already vulnerable" group.
"In normal circumstances, I'm protective of my time," Arditi said. "But this is a horribly repressive system. ... We have to step up and find alternatives."
Flores-Reyes would prefer to return to Austin, where she rents an apartment still stuffed with her belongings. She hasn’t been able to cross the border to retrieve anything since she fled in March to Nuevo Laredo.
Now she is looking to speak with her international adviser to plan her next steps, all while dealing with an unfamiliar set of constraints.
"I had no idea this was going to happen," Reyes-Flores said. "Now is not the time to be enforcing these rules."
Disclosure: Texas A&M University, the University of Houston, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at El Paso have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/08/texas-international-students-college-classes/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.
Texas Workforce Commission Overpaid Unemployment Benefits
The Texas Workforce Commission said that incorrect filings and fraud can lead to overpayments, but the money must be paid back even if it was the state's mistake.
Texas clawing back $32 million in unemployment benefits after finding 46,000 people were overpaid
"Texas clawing back $32 million in unemployment benefits after finding 46,000 people were overpaid" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
More than 46,000 Texans who lost their jobs in recent months are having portions of their unemployment benefits clawed back after the Texas Workforce Commission found that they were initially overpaid.
The overpayments, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, are estimated to be more than $32 million in total since March.
“State law requires TWC to recover all unemployment benefits overpayments,” Cisco Gamez, spokesperson for the state agency, said in an email. “Overpayments stay on your record until repaid."
There can be several causes for overpayment, according to the agency, including fraud or incorrect reporting on an application. If TWC finds unemployment fraud in a case, the person has to give back the benefits and pay a 15% penalty.
Benefits must be repaid even if the state is to blame for the overpayment, or if it was otherwise not the recipient's fault.
"We cannot pay you benefits if you have an overpayment," Gamez said.
If the person that receives the notification of overpayment doesn't send back the money, the state comptroller can recover the money by withholding certain funds, including lottery winnings, unclaimed property, unemployment benefits and other state job-related expenses. Some state funding for college students cannot be released until a repayment is made in full.
Claimants who have received notices can appeal the process, but TWC can take legal action too if they don’t recover the money.
“There is no statute of limitations on debts owed to the state,” Gamez said on an email. “TWC cannot forgive or dismiss the overpayment and there is no exception for hardship.”
As of late June, 2.7 million Texans had filed for unemployment relief since mid-March, but TWC has struggled to keep up with the high levels of demand. Since the pandemic started, countless Texans have experienced problems accessing these benefits, encountering busy phone lines and an overwhelmed application website.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/06/texas-unemployment-benefits-workers/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.