How do you appeal a DEW decision or an overpayment in South Carolina?

Every DEW determination letter lists the points of law behind it and a section on your appeal rights that says where, how, and by when to appeal. Your former employer, or any employer whose tax account your claim affects, can appeal the same letter, and an appeal from either side can impose or increase a disqualification.

The 10-day appeal deadline and how to count it

Each level's clock starts on the mailing date printed on the letter and counts calendar days, weekends included. If the 10th day falls on a weekend or a recognized holiday, DEW's appeals page moves the deadline to the next business day.

The monetary determination, mailed after you file, also offers reconsideration, the only way to dispute how DEW calculated your weekly benefit amount; ask within 10 days after it was mailed. If wages are missing from it, call 1-866-831-1724 or dispute them in MyBenefits, and have a paystub or W2 ready. The weeks it shows are explained on how long benefits last.

How to file with the Appeal Tribunal

• Online in MyBenefits, for an eligibility (non-monetary) determination: open the Claims tab, click View under Non-Monetary Determination, choose the determination, and click Request Appeal.
• By fax to 803-737-0287, sending the Notice of Appeal to the Appeal Tribunal (form APP-100) or a letter.
• By mail to S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce, Appeal Tribunal, P.O. Box 995, Columbia, SC 29202.

The APP-100 form or your letter needs your name, your Claimant ID or Social Security number, and your handwritten signature; the handbook adds the determination's date and your reasons. The handbook warns that an appeal letter uploaded to MyBenefits never reaches appeals staff and is not accepted as an appeal. Appeals are free, and an attorney can charge you only a fee DEW approves.

DEW's appeals page names 2 ways to file, mail and fax, but the handbook and the state's appeal regulation also allow electronic filing through MyBenefits. If MyBenefits offers no Request Appeal button for your letter, fax or mail the APP-100.

The hearing and who holds it

The Appeal Tribunal mails a hearing notice at least 7 calendar days ahead and, the handbook says, posts it in MyBenefits. Most hearings are by telephone; a few are held at a DEW office or SC Works center in very limited circumstances. If the number on your notice is wrong, update it through DEW's appeals page: a missed call can get the appeal dismissed or your side treated as abandoned.

An administrative hearing officer, whom DEW calls an impartial judge of the facts with no stake in the outcome, puts witnesses under oath and takes testimony. Every interested party can question witnesses and submit relevant evidence. After the hearing, the officer issues a written decision, which the handbook says is mailed and uploaded to MyBenefits for you and any other interested party, such as your employer.

• Evidence must reach DEW and the other party at least 24 hours before the hearing, or the hearing officer may not consider it.
• Witnesses with firsthand knowledge count for more than hearsay. To compel a witness or a document, file an APP-107 subpoena application; a senior hearing officer decides, and subpoenas cannot be served outside South Carolina.
• If you cannot attend, call the Appeal Tribunal at 803-737-2520 right away. It may postpone after receiving faxed proof of a scheduling conflict, and resets the hearing by telephone.

The hearing is your only chance to present testimony and evidence, and its record is the only one used from then on. If you appealed and do not take part, your appeal may be dismissed. The regulation gives the Tribunal 30 days after the hearing to decide in writing, and DEW says the process can take 30 to 45 days from the day you send the appeal.

The Appellate Panel and the Administrative Law Court

To appeal a Tribunal decision, send the APP-111 form or a signed letter with your name and Claimant ID or Social Security number within 10 calendar days of the decision's mailing date, with the same weekend and holiday extension. Fax it to 803-737-3166 or mail it to S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce, Appellate Panel, P.O. Box 1752, Columbia, SC 29202; the regulation also allows filing online. The Appellate Panel's office is at 631 Hampton Street, in the C. Lem Harper Building in Columbia, and answers at 803-737-2650.

The panel has 3 members elected by the General Assembly to 4-year terms. It sits in DEW's appellate division but is separate from DEW, and it reviews only the first hearing's record and takes no new evidence.

After the panel, a party has 30 days from the mailing date on its decision to go to the Administrative Law Court, which decides questions of law only and requires no bond.

Keep claiming while your appeal is open

Certify every week, do your 2 SC Works Online Services searches, and report earnings while the appeal is pending, as the weekly claims page explains. A win pays only the weeks you claimed on time and were otherwise eligible for.

• If the first determination held you eligible, DEW keeps paying during the employer's appeal. If you are later held ineligible, you repay what you were paid as an overpayment, with one exception in the law. When the Appeal Tribunal upheld the determination that found you eligible, the benefits paid before a later decision against you are not taken back, even if a higher appeal reverses it. That exception does not cover benefits charged to an employer's account. It also does not apply when the appeal is about your weekly amount or your maximum amount.
• If you were denied, DEW's filing hints page says payments cannot start or resume until the appeal is decided.

Overpayments: appeals, waivers, and repayment

An overpayment is benefits you were not entitled to, such as after a mistake on a weekly certification, skipped work searches, or a reversal on appeal. Both fraudulent and non-fraudulent overpayments must be repaid. The Notice of Overpayment of Benefits, sent by mail and to MyBenefits, shows the amount with any penalty, the reason, how to set up a payment plan, and your appeal and waiver rights. Call the Overpayment Unit at 803-737-2490 or Relay 711 as soon as it arrives.

To appeal, send the Appeal Tribunal form with your name and Social Security number by mail or fax, or request the appeal in MyBenefits if it offers a Request Appeal button for that determination, within the deadline in the determination's appeal rights section. Mail it to the Tribunal's P.O. Box 995 with ZIP 29202, as the appeals page and the handbook print it; DEW's overpayments page prints a different ZIP for the same box. Payments made during the appeal are refunded if you win.

To ask for a waiver, send the Application for Waiver of No Fault Overpayment and your documents within 10 calendar days of the notice's mail date to UI Benefits Department, P.O. Box 1477, Columbia, SC 29202, by fax at 803-737-2640, or to imaging_fax@dew.sc.gov. DEW's overpayments page offers the waiver for a non-fraudulent overpayment whose repayment would cost you food, medication, shelter, or transportation for a substantial time. The law's test is different: no fraud, no fault of yours, and recovery against equity and good conscience. The waiver regulation rules out anyone who knew, or should have known, that a statement was wrong or the money was not due, or who hid a fact that mattered; DEW's own error counts in the fairness test. If either test fits you, apply and let DEW decide; a denial can be appealed.

To repay, pay in MyBenefits by card or electronic check (a third party adds a convenience charge), mail a check or money order with your full name and Claimant ID or the last 4 digits of your Social Security number, set up a bank draft, or start a monthly plan in MyBenefits or by phone. Mail goes to the Collections Unit, P.O. Box 2644, Columbia, SC 29202 (1-866-831-1724 or Relay 711). While you are still collecting, current benefits go to the overpayment first, so no plan is allowed, and benefits cannot pay a fraud penalty. The handbook's plan limits are below. Its last row, for more than $16,000, gives no payment amount, so if you owe that much, ask DEW what it will accept when you set up the plan in MyBenefits or by phone.

An unpaid balance lets DEW withhold 25% of your net wages each pay period, take other money the state owes you, offset lottery winnings, and take tax refunds. After DEW's notice, you have 30 days to pay in full before the debt goes to the Department of Revenue, which takes your state refund and adds a $25 charge, and 60 days to pay or set up a plan before it goes to the federal Treasury Offset Program. DEW's page limits the federal offset to fraud or unreported earnings, but the law allows it for any overpayment. The IRS adds a fee, which that same page gives as both $18.43 and $16.28. DEW mails back anything taken beyond the debt; allow at least 6 weeks.

DEW cannot start recovering a non-fraudulent overpayment more than 5 years after the final determination, or a fraudulent one more than 8 years after. Fraud penalties are never discharged in bankruptcy.

Fraud, identity theft, and scams

Fraud includes hiding earnings, lying about why a job ended, and claiming to be available while ill or traveling. Under the law, a knowingly false statement brings ineligibility for the weeks claimed plus 10 to 52 more, a 33 percent penalty on the overpayment, possible deductions from future benefits of 2.5 times your weekly amount up to your maximum benefit amount, and a fine of $50 to $250 or up to 30 days in jail for each statement. DEW's fraud page, in its own words, says disqualification lasts up to 52 weeks and warns of fines up to $100,000 and up to 10 years in prison.

Report fraud on DEW's fraud reporting form, at the Fraud Hotline, 1-800-868-1488 or Relay 711, or by mail to DEW Fraud Investigations, P.O. Box 995, Columbia, SC 29202, without giving your name.

If someone filed a claim in your name:

1. Report it under the Identity Theft and Imposter Claims tab on DEW's fraud page, or call the hotline.
2. Tell your employer, file IRS Form 14039, and file a police report, keeping a copy.
3. Complain to the National Center for Disaster Fraud and report it at IdentityTheft.gov.
4. Email DEW's Statement of Non-Receipt of Unemployment Benefits to fraud_reporting@dew.sc.gov.

The report puts a hold on the claim. If DEW finds impostor fraud, you do not repay what the impostor got, and you can still file your own claim. For a 1099-G covering benefits you never received, give DEW a signed copy of the police report and ask for a corrected form.

DEW never charges for services and never texts or emails asking for personal information. Before entering a password, check the address bar for the lock icon and dew.sc.gov or scuihub.dew.sc.gov.