He got unemployment during the pandemic, then DC sent him a bill for $29,000

WASHINGTON — In the middle of the pandemic, Bill Holt of Shadyside, Maryland, got laid off from his work at a D.C.-area media company.

He worked as maintenance and general construction at the company for three decades, but the pandemic forced everyone out of the building – and Holt out of a job.

“I had no place else to go,” he said. “I was starting to look, but nobody was hiring.”

RELATED: Federal workers have to pay back unemployment received during government shutdown

So he did what millions of people did – applied for and got unemployment. After he stopped drawing benefits, he got sent a $29,000 bill from D.C.’s Office of Employment Services.  

“I freaked out,” he said.

So, what happened?

Full disclosure, Holt now works at WUSA9. He came to our news team with this massive unemployment benefit misunderstanding. And we said that's not right.

After the job cuts in 2020, millions of Americans like Holt received special pandemic unemployment funds. When he started to work again in 2021, he stopped drawing benefits.

“I was finally back to work,” he said. “I was excited to be back to work and feel normal again.”

Except everything wasn’t normal. A few months after he went back to work, he got a $29,000 bill from DC Unemployment. The bill claimed he had been overpaid by the office.

“I called my accountant, I called everybody,” he said. “I was going through my records trying to find out, 'Why?'”

Holt said he submitted all his paperwork to DC Office of Employment Services. That was in 2021.

Since then, he and his accountant have emailed and called to get it straightened out with no luck. The last month when he thought it was resolved.

“I got a bill now stating that I owe them $19,000 and that I was gonna be turned over to the Treasury Department,” he said.

So he turned to WUSA9.

We looked over Holt’s email chains and the letters to DOES. Everything seemed to be in order. So we reached out to DOES and asked what was going on with Holt’s case. 

Then Tuesday morning: “I got a phone call from DC Unemployment stating that it was all a mistake,” he smiled. “It’s finally over!”

Turns out Holt doesn’t owe D.C. anything.

Finally, he said thanks to WUSA9; he has a big weight lifted off his shoulders.

We asked DOES what went wrong: they offered no official statement but wrote: “The support of District residents, businesses and workers is our top priority."