ASSEMBLY LABOR COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 2462

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: NOVEMBER 7, 1996

      The Assembly Labor Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 2462, with committee amendments.

      This bill permits the State Department of Labor to obtain the repayment of certain overpayments of Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) benefits. Current law requires a TDI claimant to repay TDI benefit overpayments only if the claimant obtained the benefits by fraud.

      As amended by the committee, the bill requires, whether or not there was fraud, that a claimant repay the overpaid amount or have it withheld from subsequent TDI benefits, except that, in nonfraud cases, the bill:

      1. Limits the amount withheld from any subsequent benefit check to an amount not greater than 50% of the value of the check;

      2. Waives all repayments when the claimant is deceased or permanently disabled; and

      3. Ends the liability of the claimant for repayment if the claimant is not notified within four years of the time that the overpayment was made.

      The department estimates that this bill will enable it to recover more than $1 million per year in TDI overpayments in nonfraud cases.

      Unamended, the bill limited the amount withheld from any subsequent benefit check to an amount not greater than 40% of the value of the check. The amendments also remove the requirement that the department's mailed notification of an overpayment determination be sent by certified mail.