OP 200.00 Overpayment Waiver

Click on the case numbers below to access decisions about whether financial circumstances warrant a waiver of a claimant's obligation to repay benefits.

0035 7386 70

00335 7386 70 (Oct. 8, 2020) – Since the claimant’s net household income exceeds her monthly household expenses, she is not entitled to an overpayment waiver under G.L. c. 151A, § 69(c), as recovery of the overpaid benefits would not defeat the purpose of benefits otherwise authorized. Though SSDI benefits are issued to her minor son, the claimant is not presumptively eligible for a waiver under a plain reading of 430 CMR 6.05, because the SSDI benefits are not received by the claimant herself. 

0016 7937 34

0016 7937 34 (Mar. 9, 2016) – Where a claimant’s household average monthly income is exceeded by the household’s ordinary and necessary living expenses, he is granted a waiver, pursuant to G.L. c. 151A, § 69(c).  Income for this purpose does not include non-liquid assets.

0013 2291 90

0013 2291 90 (June 3, 2015) – Use of unemployment benefits to pay for travel, clothing, and entertainment did not materially alter the claimant’s position for the worse.  Therefore, it would not be “against equity and good conscience” to require the claimant to repay overpaid benefits and she is not entitled to a waiver pursuant to G.L. c. 151A, § 69(c).  Where the claimant did not apply for food stamps or other forms of public assistance, but merely asserted that her receipt of unemployment benefits rendered her ineligible, the Board declined to conclude that the claimant “relinquished a valuable right.”