A person is allowed to ask the Colorado Division of Employment and Training (unemployment division of the Department of Labor) to waive recovery of over payments due to financial hardship. The Division has a Waiver Request Form online for Colorado unemployment. Waivers are not granted if the overpayment to a benefit recipient resulted from a false representation or willful failure to disclose material facts. It is therefore important to fight any allegation by the Division that over payments resulted from a false representation or willful failure to disclose that you had another job, or other income. The Division is claiming there were false representations if it asks for penalties in addition to repayment of benefits.
False representation is defined in the regulations of the Division as any representation made by an individual that he or she knew to be false or made not knowing whether it was true or false. Willful failure to disclose material information means knowingly withholding information from the Division.
People most often get repayment demands if 1) they did not look for work while receiving benefits, or 2) they under reported worked hours or income, or 3) they have worked in more than one state. Our unemployment lawyers can often obtain a repayment waiver for people who worked in more than one state. Depending on the circumstances, we can reduce or defend repayment demands due to under reporting hours and wages. Failure to look for work is trouble.
Company owners are often surprised to get audits asserting their independent contractors are really employees. It is not easy to avoid unemployment taxes by categorizing workers as independent contractors. Those people who try such tactics and lose risk penalties, also.
See the following blog about significant changes to the law, beginning in 2022: