Overpaid Jobless Benefits -- Just Keep It, Says N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue

It's a happy day among the unemployed in North Carolina. The chief executive officer of that state, Governor Bev Perdue, has informed them that, no, they don't have to pay back what they might have been overpaid by the N.C. Employment Security Commission (ESC).

Before that happy day were a few very scary ones. As Rebecca Clark reports in The Star, ECS discovered that 38,000 people receiving jobless benefits had been overpaid or, in a small number of cases, had been underpaid. In response, ECS sent out letters mandating the return of the amount of the overpayments. Otherwise, ESC would deduct that amount from future unemployment checks and tax refunds

Among Perdue's orders has been for the ESC to return checks that have already come in with the repayment of the excess. But the situation is not fully resolved; ESC is negotiating with the U.S. Department of Labor over how to fix the mess.

Reader, what policy decision would you recommend ESC take? Let AOL Jobs know what you think.