NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Four years ago in December 2019, Shane Stenstrom was in a terrible accident outside of Westmoreland, Tennessee, that nearly ended his life, when his truck broke down on the side of the road and he got rear-ended by another truck going nearly 60 mph.
“I had broken bones in my back, three broken bones in my right foot and a concussion,” Stenstrom said. “It was so bad, the paramedics actually said that somebody must have been looking out for me.”
Stenstrom’s injuries were so bad that he lost his job and ended up receiving unemployment for most of 2020, right at the height of the COVID pandemic.
“I think my benefits ran out in October of 2020,” Stenstrom said.
And while Stenstrom was able to rehab his injuries and get back to work, four years later he found himself facing a huge financial hole from the aftermath of the wreck, but not in a way he ever imagined.
“I thought all this was behind me,” Stenstrom said. “And then this last December I get an email from the State Department of Labor saying that I was overpaid in 2020, and I owe over $17,000.”
Now five months later, Stenstrom has a small stack of papers that stresses him out every time he looks at them. The papers include demands for payment, letters denying his effort to appeal the state’s determination that he owes the money, and Stenstrom’s correspondence to the Tennessee Department of Labor trying to explain the situation.
“Yeah, I’m stressed, it’s hard to sleep, I can’t pay this back,” said Stenstrom. “Unless they’re cool with me only paying a hundred bucks a month for the next 30 years or however long it would be, there’s no way I could pay that back.”
Fearing the Department of Labor would start garnishing his wages, Stenstrom called WSMV4 Investigates for help, asking if we could contact the department and find out why they were pursuing him for thousands of dollars he was certain he did not owe.
“I did everything right, I could see if it was fraud or something,” said Stenstrom. “I’m basically going paycheck to paycheck, trying to survive, and I take care of my mom, she’s 87. And if they garnish my check, you know I am out on the street, I won’t make my mortgage.”
As it turns out, Stenstrom is not alone. That is because according to the state, nearly a million Tennesseans filed for unemployment during the height of the pandemic, and figures from the federal government show in 2020 Tennessee overpaid unemployment benefits by more than 2-point-9 Million dollars.
Now four years later, the Tennessee Department of Labor is still trying to collect nearly 1-point-2 Million dollars from people like Stenstrom who claim they did not know they were being overpaid.
“I understand if they are trying to claw back some of the money, but a lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck,” Stenstrom said. “And in my case, their story has already changed twice.”
“First they said I didn’t pay enough in over the past eight years to collect unemployment, which is bogus,” said Stenstrom. “Then they said I wasn’t eligible for unemployment because I quit my job. I didn’t quit, I was fired because of the accident, and thankfully I finally got a letter from my old job proving that and sent it in.”
We contacted the Tennessee Department of Labor about Stenstrom’s case and sought an interview to ask about unemployment overpayments during the pandemic.
While the department did not grant WSMV4 Investigates an interview, a well later the Department of Labor sent us an email saying the collection action against Stenstrom was getting dropped.
According to the Department’s email, Stenstrom’s claim was very complicated, and after a manager with the department’s Employment Security Division began a new review, a mistake was discovered, and once that error was corrected, the Department determined Stenstrom was not overpaid.
“That is wonderful news,” Stenstrom said when WSMV4 Investigates contacted him by phone. “I can go back to my regular life now.”
While he is thankful to be off the hook, Stenstrom admits he is still a little upset with the Department of Labor, fearing the next person this happens to may not be able to fight back like he did.
“It just feels like things are pretty disorganized over there,” Stenstrom said referring to the Department of Labor.
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