Iowa woman says she’s being forced to pay for dead husband’s overpaid unemployment wages

By Lauren Johnson

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    BOONE, Iowa (KCCI) — Boone resident Lori Harvey is still mourning the loss of her husband Thomas, who lost his battle with cancer in April.

Last month, she says a letter arrived at their home addressed to him.

And it read that he owed Iowa Workforce Development $467 in overpaid unemployment wages.

“I typed up a letter to send back to them to say that he had deceased and included a copy of his death certificate,” Harvey said. “And I thought that was the end of it.”

But it wasn’t.

Harvey said then she was notified she would have to appear in person for a hearing over the money.

“An appeal hearing is supposed to take place this Friday at 9 a.m.,” she said.

She’s kept a record of who she’s called and emailed in hopes of IWD understanding her circumstances.

Thomas was on unemployment in 2019, but Lori says they weren’t married at that time and this burden shouldn’t fall on her.

“I feel like I am running into bureaucratic red tape and hitting every wall,” she said.

She’s hoping the hearing gets canceled as Thomas is no longer around to pay the debt.

And she doesn’t have the money to pay now either.

“Between this and Blue Cross denying almost $50,000 in medical claims, that they say weren’t medically necessary for his treatment and they were ordered by doctors. It’s like, how can you say that,” Harvey said.

KCCI reached out to IWD about the issue and they shared:

Iowa Workforce Development is not able to comment on individual claims or cases. We encourage any Iowan with questions or issues related to UI claims to contact the IWD customer service line.

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