Woman receives $13,000 bill for repayment of unemployment benefits

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- The Department of Workforce Solutions reportedly sent millions of dollars in overpayments to New Mexicans during the pandemic.

Juliane Worthington said she received a letter from the department that said she owes $13,000.

She was living and working in Santa Fe in 2020 when the pandemic hit and her options for work dried up.

She said she went through the department’s website and was approved for unemployment benefits.

Worthington said she still hasn’t been able to find work.

However, now she is being told she needs to pay the department back $2,300 a month.

"I mean at first I cried, and then I laughed," she said. "And I said this has got to be a mistake. Like this has just got to be a mistake."

Worthington’s first payment was due in May, but she said she couldn’t make the payment.

Worthington said she’s tried reaching out to the department, but she’s been unable to speak with an actual person.

"I don’t think I should, in any way, be held responsible for it. If I went through the proper channels and filled out the paperwork, and they gave me the money, and then I used that money to survive the last year, I don’t feel like I should owe that money back at all. If someone made a mistake. That’s on them," she said.

KOB 4 reached out to the Department of Workforce Solutions, but did not hear back.