Location: Maryland, USA
I was laid off 2/27/26 and filed for unemployment pretty immediately. I did receive 5 weeks of severance pay, and I included that in my application. I provided them with all the documentation they requested. I received a Notice of Benefit Determination on 3/19/2026 that stated "The claimant is eligible to receive post-employment payments from [Company] due to the nature of the payments and the associated agreement that the claimant must accept in order to be eligible for those payments, no benefit deduction of penalty within the meaning of Section 8-1009 of the Maryland Unemployment Insurance Law is warranted. Benefits are allowed, if otherwise eligible." They issued payments for March.
Fast forward to the week ending 3/28/26 - because I earned more than the weekly benefit in gig work (a whopping $500 total that week) and I reported it like an honest person would do, they marked me inactive in the system, and I had to call them to get reinstated. That also meant I basically had to re-apply and re-submit all my documentation. I'm not sure if this impacted things.
After this, I stopped receiving payments. The last time I got a payment was 4/9/2026. All my filings have just said they were on hold. Now, the state sent me a new notice today 5/2/2026 (notice is dated 5/4/26 though) that states that I owe $1220 in overpayment because my severance pay disqualified me. It states, "The claimant is in receipt of severance pay. Severance pay is disqualifying as provided by Section 8-1009 of the Maryland Unemployment Insurance Law. The severance pay amount will be allocated tot he number of weeks of pay that it represents beginning with the week ending 02/28/2026. This denial may result in either a total or partial reduction of benefits for the affected weeks." Then it later states, "The delay in issuing this notice was due to the time needed to implement procedural and system changes for the issuance of overpayment determinations based on the settlement agreement in Gorres, et al. v. Robinson (1:21-cv-03029). This did not affect your ability appeal this determination, not was there any attempt to collect any portion of this overpayment prior to the sending of this notice." A second notice about this states that "Benefits are denied from 02/22/2026 to 04/04/2026."
So now I owe them $1220 for their mistake? Which notice stands? Do I even have a real shot at appealing this? What happens if I don't pay it? What about the money they still owe me from the weeks of 4/11, 4/18, and 4/25?