Bill
HB 5003
Expands hardship waiver eligibility for unemployment benefits overpayments by raising income/assets threshold to 200% of the HHS poverty guideline (from 150%).
Status & Procedural Notes
- Bill: HB 5003 — amends section 62 of the Michigan Employment Security Act (MCL 421.62), as amended by 2024 PA 238.
- Filed/Introduced: March 13, 2025; electronically reproduced 09/18/2025; read first time and referred to the House Committee on Economic Competitiveness (per available records).
- This summary is based on the House-introduced text (H00992'25).
Purpose / Intent
- To modify eligibility and procedural rules for waiving recovery (restitution) of improperly paid unemployment benefits. The main substantive change is increasing income and asset thresholds for hardship-based restitution waivers and clarifying timing, waiver triggers, and recovery methods.
Key Provisions and Changes
- Time limits for recovery actions:
- The agency must issue a restitution determination within 3 years after finality of a reversing determination or decision.
- Generally, the agency cannot pursue administrative or court recovery actions more than 3 years after the final restitution-establishing determination (exceptions for suspected identity fraud).
- Recovery methods and limits:
- Recovery may be done by deduction from benefits or wages, cash payment, or deduction from tax refunds (MCL 205.30a), or combinations.
- Deductions from benefits/wages are capped at not more than 50% of each payment to the claimant.
- Hardship (equity and good conscience) waiver expanded and clarified:
- Waivers (and interest waivers) are required except in cases of intentional false statement/misrepresentation/concealment.
- The bill raises the income/asset eligibility threshold for a hardship waiver: a claimant’s average net household income and household cash assets during the 6 months before the waiver application must be at or below 200% (was 150%) of the most recent HHS poverty guideline update.
- "Cash assets" defined (for waiver purposes) as cash in excess of $100,000. Social welfare benefits and unemployment benefits are excluded when computing income/assets.
- A claimant may file up to 3 additional hardship waiver applications in a calendar year after an initial application; cannot file a new application until prior adjudication is final.
- If a waiver is filed and later granted, restitution and interest paid after the application date must be promptly refunded.
- The agency cannot refuse to consider a waiver solely because the claimant has a pending appeal on related matters.
- Additional waiver grounds retained/clarified:
- Waiver available if incorrect wage information was provided without claimant intent AND the employer provided no or inaccurate wage information upon request (waiver applies from 30 days after the incorrect wage info was first reported).
- Waiver available when improper payments result from an administrative or clerical error by the unemployment agency (waiver applies from the date the error occurred or the first week of the improper payments if error date is unknown).
- Intentional fraud:
- If a claimant intentionally makes a false statement/misrepresentation or conceals material information to obtain benefits, the agency will cancel benefit rights for that benefit year (retroactive to the date of the fraud) and additional penalties/denials apply (no waiver).
Who Is Affected
- Primary: Unemployment insurance claimants who were overpaid benefits and seek restitution waivers.
- Secondary: Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (administration, adjudication workload), employers (wage reporting accuracy matters), and the UI trust fund/benefit recoveries (potential fiscal effect from increased waivers).
- Not affected for waiver eligibility: cases of suspected identity fraud or proven intentional fraud (waivers barred).
Potential Impact
- Expanding the hardship threshold from 150% to 200% of the HHS poverty guideline and clarifying cash-asset rules likely increases the number of claimants eligible for waivers, which could reduce recoveries collected by the agency and modestly affect UI fund recoveries.
- Procedural clarifications (timing limits, refund requirements, deduction caps) provide clearer protections for claimants and more prescriptive agency obligations; may increase administrative processes for waiver review and refunding.
Effective / Implementation Notes
- The bill amends MCL 421.62; any effective date would be set at enactment (not specified in the introduced text). Monitor committee and legislative calendars for amendments, committee reports, and vote outcomes.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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