im confused why ur focusing on the termination so much. just say u were laid off due to budget cuts. thats what i always say and nobody questions it. unemployment is unemployment whether u were fired or laid off, the benefits are the same either way

Update: I had an interview yesterday and tried the advice about framing it as a learning experience. It went SO much better! Instead of getting stuck defending myself, I talked about the mistake briefly, then spent more time explaining the triple-check system I developed afterward. The interviewer actually seemed impressed and we moved on to talk about my qualifications instead of dwelling on the termination. I have a second interview scheduled for next week! Thank you all for the helpful advice - it really made a difference in how I approached this.

That different overpayment ID is critical information! That likely means they've created a duplicate overpayment record in their system. In your appeal, you need to specifically mention both overpayment ID numbers and state that they appear to be duplicates for the same time period. This happens when their system undergoes updates or migrations - sometimes records get duplicated instead of transferred. Make sure to highlight this prominently in your appeal.

UPDATE: I finally got this resolved! After filing my appeal with all the documentation and following the advice here about mentioning the duplicate overpayment IDs, I also managed to get through to someone at the Overpayment Recovery Unit who was actually helpful. She confirmed they had created a duplicate overpayment record during a system migration in January. My payment from 2022 was properly applied to the original overpayment, but the duplicate was created without any record of that payment. She's submitted paperwork to have the duplicate removed and said I should receive confirmation within 2 weeks. She also put a hold on any collection activities. THANK YOU all for your help - especially the tip about checking the overpayment IDs and contacting that specific department!

THE WHOLE PA UC SYSTEM IS BROKEN!!! I've had missing tax forms THREE YEARS IN A ROW now! And every year they give a different excuse about system upgrades or staffing issues. Meanwhile WE are the ones who get in trouble with the IRS if our reporting is wrong. And good luck getting through on those phone lines - complete joke!!!

UPDATE: I found it!!! It was buried under a weird submenu in the dashboard called "Correspondence" that was different from the Messages section. For anyone else looking, go to Dashboard > Documents > Correspondence > Tax Forms. Thanks everyone for your help! The form shows he had some taxes withheld that we would have missed if we just added up the deposits.

Just wanted to update everyone - PA UC just posted on their Twitter account that they're aware of the certification issues and expect to have them resolved by 8pm tonight. They recommend trying again tomorrow morning if possible. For those who need to file today, they suggest calling the UC service center.

Just as a follow-up for anyone finding this thread in the future - this issue was fixed around 9:30pm that night. It was related to the new 2025 job search verification questions that were added during maintenance. If you ever encounter a similar issue where the system freezes during weekly certification: 1) Try using the PA UC mobile app instead of the website 2) Clear your browser cache completely (not just cookies) 3) Try filing during off-peak hours (early morning or late evening) 4) If all else fails, you can always certify by phone Remember you have until Friday each week to file for the previous week, so sometimes waiting 24 hours for a fix is the easiest solution.

i had unresolved issue for 6 weeks last year. ended up being something super simple - they needed to verify my identity again even tho i already did the id.me thing. once i got thru to someone they fixed it right away and i got all my back payments in 3 days. dont give up!!

That's actually really encouraging to hear! I'm hoping once I actually reach someone, it'll be something simple like that. Did you get interest on your back payments or just the regular benefit amount?