D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 7, § 3515
3515.1 In the event of erroneous payment or overpayment, DOES shall seek repayment of benefits from the recipient or the estate of a deceased recipient; provided, that the Director may waive, in whole or in part, the amount of any such payments when the recovery would be against equity and good conscience.
3515.2 DOES shall provide notice in writing to an eligible individual of the requirement to repay erroneous payments or overpayments. The repayment notice shall include the following information:
3515.3 DOES shall not attempt to collect repayment of paid-leave benefits during an appeal of a claim determination or while the recipient has a pending bankruptcy case.
3515.4 DOES may utilize the following methods to seek repayment of paid-leave benefits from the recipient:
consistent with state, federal, or local law.
3515.5 A recipient may request that DOES waive the requirement that a recipient repay paid-leave benefits. The request shall be submitted through the online portal, or through an electronic or non-electronic format approved by DOES, within thirty (30) calendar days after DOES sends a repayment notice to the recipient.3515.6 If the request for waiver of the paid-leave benefit repayment is not submitted within the thirty (30) calendar-day period, the recipient shall provide good cause for failure to meet the thirty (30) calendar-day requirement before the request can be considered.3515.7 DOES may refer a repayment matter to the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia or the Office of the Inspector General.3515.8 (a) If DOES obtains repayment of benefits from an individual who has made a willful misrepresentation or otherwise perpetrated fraud to obtain paid-leave benefits and who received paid-leave benefits under this chapter for a period during which he or she earned income by performing work as a covered employee for a covered employer, and that covered employer made contributions to the Universal Paid Leave Implementation Fund based on the wages paid to that individual during the period he or she improperly received paid-leave benefits under this chapter, DOES shall distribute a proportional share of the recovered amount to that covered employer.(b) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of this subsection, a covered employer's proportional share of the recovered amount shall be determined by the following method:1. (1) The total amount paid into the Universal Paid Leave Implementation Fund by all covered employers on behalf of the individual during the period that he or she improperly obtained benefits shall be added together;
2. (2) The amount contributed by the covered employer during the period described in paragraph (a) shall be divided by the total amount calculated in subparagraph (1);
3. (3) This proportion shall be applied to the amount recovered from the individual;
4. (4) The resulting amount shall be distributed to the covered employer.
3515.9 DOES may cancel the requirement that a recipient repay a paid-leave repayment balance if:- (a) The recipient is deceased, provided that a death certificate is provided to DOES, and recovery from the recipient's estate would be against equity and good conscience;
- (b) The recipient is a victim of identity theft and the claim submitted to DOES was made by an unauthorized person using the identity of the victim; provided, that evidence supporting the occurrence of identity theft, such as a police report or other supporting documentation, is provided to DOES; or
- (c) The recipient is a victim of domestic violence in which situation the claimant was forced by an abusive partner or family member to apply for benefits of which the abusive partner retained control; provided, that evidence supporting the occurrence of such a situation of domestic violence, such as a police report or other supporting documentation, is provided to DOES by the eligible individual or an authorized representative.
SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 67 DCR 3997 (April 10, 2020).