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‘I could not believe what I was seeing’: Woman shares story of $17K bill from Michigan unemployment agency

Help Me Hank investigates problem too many Michiganders have faced

Jeanne Salkowski is like many of you -- she’s tired of battling with the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA).

Salkowski had been working as a massage therapist but when the pandemic hit, the work vanished

“It has been a nightmare. People did not want to have any contact with me, and I understood,” she said.

She filed for unemployment as an independent contractor and soon the checks she needed arrived, but then late last year she received a notification from UIA telling her she owed the state $17,000. She was stunned.

“I could not believe what I was seeing,” she said.

She has been working to get the problem resolved, and so far no luck.

The same thing happened to another local man we talked to. He had no clue what to do to solve the problem.

We investigated for him and learned UIA simply needed more documentation. The issue was reaching someone. The best way is by phone, and you can now also schedule appointments for in-person meetings. And the online chat feature has been improved. Once you are able to actually communicate with someone, many times you will realize it’s often a paperwork issue or glitch that caused the problem. In his case, we were able to get the issue resolved.

As for Salkowski, we started investigating and learned the state again has made an error in this case.

“I had no idea what I was going to do,” she said.

Salkowski was asked to file more paperwork so an investigation could get underway. In the end, there was confusion regarding the paperwork that was filed.


Full interview: Q&A with new Michigan UIA director


Michigan UIA resources:




About the Author
Hank Winchester headshot

Hank Winchester is Local 4’s Consumer Investigative Reporter and the head of WDIV’s “Help Me Hank” Consumer Unit. Hank works to solve consumer complaints, reveal important recalls and track down thieves who have ripped off people in our community.

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