About 11,000 Pennsylvanians will be asked to repay some or all of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act unemployment funds they received in increments of $600 per week, and a Buffalo Township man is one of them.

But the man, who did not want his name used, believes he was asked to repay his CARES unemployment funds in error.

The man received a letter earlier this week from the state Department of Labor & Industry's Office of Unemployment Compensation notifying him that he must repay the seven weekly payments of $600 he received between April and July because of “non-fraud overpayment.”

The letter states the man was not entitled to the payments “because of self-employment,” according to copies of documents he supplied to the Eagle.

“I am not self-employed,” he said. “I do not own a business.”

The man said he received a document in April from state unemployment called a “letter of determination” notifying him that he was eligible not only for unemployment, but also for the CARES funds.

He believes he may have actually been eligible for the state Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) payment, which is a minimum payment of $195 per week.

The man, who lost his new job with the Pittsburgh Home Show when the pandemic hit, cannot reach anyone at the state unemployment office via email, online chat or telephone.

No matter the case, asking a jobless person for $4,200 during a pandemic is quite a demand.

“I don't even have it,” said the man. “I've been living off of it.”

State Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, said her office has received more than 1,000 calls from people regarding unemployment issues during the pandemic.

Her legislative aid, Niki Collins, said she processed 600 assistance requests in the past three months from those frustrated with their unemployment issues.

Mustello said she believes she has received so many unemployment complaints because her offices remained open during the pandemic, while many others closed.

“We were the only ones who had a live person answering the phone,” she said.

Collins said she believes many people who have been receiving the $600 weekly CARES payments are going to start finding out they should have applied for the state PUA payments.

“So, they're going to have to make up for it,” she said.

Further confusing the issue is the fact that the federal CARES unemployment payments also were named “Pandemic Unemployment Assistance,” Mustello said.

She added that she doesn't think the unemployment office could say an individual is eligible for one type of unemployment compensation and not another.

Mustello said the Buffalo Township man visited her office Wednesday to apprise her of his situation, and she plans to try and help him by contacting the state unemployment office.

“Somebody's not talking to somebody out there,” Mustello said.

She said Gov. Tom Wolf's shutdown in March emboldened many who never paid into unemployment to apply for compensation, and prisoners were stealing identities to apply for unemployment funds.

But Labor & Industry wanted to ensure everyone who deserved compensation got it during the trying financial times that came with the shutdown.

“There was a lot of what I think was negligence on the part of L&I to give out money to people who never should have received it,” Mustello said.

She has been helping a friend with an unemployment claim recently, and agrees it is difficult for people to navigate the complicated system.

“I'll tell you what, it's confusing as heck,” Mustello said.

As for the Buffalo Township man, he immediately filled out and returned the appeals document that came with his repayment letter.

“In this pandemic right now, who has $4,200 sitting around?” he said.