How do you appeal an unemployment decision or overpayment in Arizona?

DES decides your claim in a letter called a Determination of Eligibility, and tells you it paid money you were not owed in a Determination of Overpayment. Both arrive by the notification method you chose in CACTUS, both print your appeal rights, and either one can be appealed to a hearing.

Your appeal deadline: 7 days or 15, and how to count them

Appeal as soon as you can. Once the deadline passes, the determination becomes final.

DES's appeals page counts it differently: 15 days from the date of the determination in one place, and 15 calendar days after the mailing date in another. Only the statute sets a shorter clock for a notice that did not come by mail. If your determination reached you through CACTUS or any other way than the post, count 7 calendar days from the day it arrived and appeal inside that. If you cannot tell how it was delivered, use the 7-day count.

The Department's rule says a mailed determination counts as served on the day it is mailed, and presumes that day is the date printed on it. DES's paper application asks how you want to get notices: a CACTUS message, email, text, or postal mail. Determinations are never sent by text, and you can change your choice at any time in CACTUS or by calling (877) 600-2722.

For a determination mailed on Monday, October 5, 2026, the 15 calendar days run to Tuesday, October 20, 2026. A mailed appeal counts by its postmark, and an appeal sent any other way counts on the day DES receives it. Had it been delivered rather than mailed, the limit would have been 7 calendar days.

DES generally allows a late appeal only for its own error or misinformation, or a post office failure to deliver. The Department's binding rule adds an address change you had no reason to report, and asks for a written explanation. Do not wait for proof before you appeal: DES says you will have time to gather evidence afterwards.

You can instead ask DES to reconsider, as long as you ask before the appeal deadline. By statute DES must deny the request or issue a new determination within 7 calendar days. A denied request goes forward as an appeal, and a new determination starts a new appeal clock. You and your employer each get no more than one reconsideration request per case.

How and where to file an appeal

• In CACTUS: from your dashboard choose Unemployment Services, then Appeals. On the Determinations tab, choose File Appeal or Request a Reconsideration next to the determination.
• By phone: call the number printed on your determination and be ready to say why the decision is wrong.
• In writing: use the Request for Reconsideration/Appeal form, UIB-0126A in English or UIB-0126A-S in Spanish, or any typed or handwritten letter. Sign it, include your name and Social Security number, attach a copy of the determination, and fax or mail it to the number and address on your determination.

The appeal form on DES's site is addressed to the Unemployment Insurance Program, P.O. Box 29225, Mail Drop 5895, Phoenix, AZ 85038, and lists fax (602) 364-1210 as well as fax (520) 770-3357.

While the appeal is open, keep filing a weekly claim for every week you are out of work. If you win, DES pays only the weeks you claimed on time while otherwise eligible. If you lose, you may have to repay benefits you already received.

The hearing and who decides it

DES sends a Notice of Hearing with the date, time, issue, and how to take part. The Department's rule gives every party at least 10 business days' notice, and almost all hearings are by telephone. Register as the notice tells you, or you cannot take part: by phone at (602) 771-9019 or toll free 1 (877) 528-3330, speaking to an agent, since a message does not register you; or online in the C2T Online Registration System with your docket number, keeping the confirmation number.

Call in at least 15 minutes early. An impartial Administrative Law Judge in DES's Office of Appeals runs the hearing, and it is your only chance to present your case. Bring firsthand evidence, because the judge may give little weight to what someone else told you. Upload any document not already in your hearing packet in CACTUS under your docket number right away, or fax, mail, or deliver it to the Office of Appeals, and give the other party a copy or the judge may exclude it. If you cannot attend, ask for a postponement in CACTUS or call the Office of Appeals.

You can speak for yourself or bring an attorney, paralegal, or other representative. A paid representative must be a licensed attorney or supervised by one. DES and the courts may not charge you fees of any kind, and a lawyer or agent may not charge you more than DES approves. For a first-level appeal, DES lists groups that may represent you for free, among them Community Legal Services (Maricopa County 602-258-3434, Yuma County (928) 782-7511), Southern Arizona Legal Aid ((520) 623-9465), and DNA-People's Legal Services in Coconino County ((928) 774-0653). The full list is on DES's free legal representation page.

If you filed the appeal and miss the hearing, the judge decides without you. To reopen, the Department's rule gives you 15 calendar days from the date the decision was mailed, while DES's hearing FAQ says 30 calendar days. File your signed, written Request to Reopen within the rule's 15 days, with your name, Social Security number, and reasons for not appearing. DES does not take it by phone.

Appeals above the hearing

Ask the Appeals Board for review in CACTUS or with a written petition for review; it can send the case back, take more evidence, or uphold, reverse, or change the decision. To go further, file an application for appeal with the Appeals Board's clerk. The Court of Appeals decides whether to hear it, charges no bond or docket fee, and considers only issues raised in your petition for review. When a judge or the Appeals Board upholds a decision to pay you, the statute says you are paid even if your employer appeals further.

Overpayments, waivers, and repayment

An overpayment is unemployment money you were not eligible for, and in most cases you must repay it even if it is spent. It can follow an eligibility or appeal decision, a revised Monetary Determination, or earnings you did not report. The Determination of Overpayment, delivered in CACTUS, gives the total due, the reason, how to appeal and repay, whether DES applied a waiver, and the class, which sets the penalties, interest, and repayment rules:

You have 15 calendar days after the issued date at the top of the determination to appeal the overpayment or its class: in CACTUS under the Overpayment Determination section, through the UI Call Center at 1-877-600-2722, or by mail to the P.O. Box 29225 address above. DES's overpayment FAQ gives its own fax numbers for this kind of appeal, fax (888) 417-3639 or fax (602) 362-5391, with your name and Claimant ID on every page.

Waivers. The statute lets DES waive all or part of an overpayment you got through no fault of your own when repaying would be against equity and good conscience. DES reviews each overpayment for a waiver when it is created. If yours is not waived, choose Request Waiver next to it in CACTUS, or call 1 (877) 600-2722 for help with technical problems or financial hardship. Each overpayment needs its own request, and a refusal comes as an Overpayment Waiver Determination you can appeal.

What DES adds and collects. Interest runs at 10% a year, starting the month after the overpayment is set for a fraud or non-fraud balance, and 6 months after that month for an administrative one. Fraud adds a 15 percent penalty, so a $1,000 fraud overpayment carries a $150 penalty, $1,150 before interest. DES can take repayment from:

• Future benefits. For an overpayment that was not your fault, the statute caps the deduction at 25 percent of your weekly benefit amount unless federal law requires more. DES can deduct 50 percent instead only when all of these are true: you had gone at least 12 months in a row without benefits before your latest payment, you made no reasonable attempt to repay in that time, and at least a year has passed since the overpayment was set. The handbook says you can ask that only 50% go toward a non-fraud overpayment, and that fraud is recovered at 100% with no benefits paid until everything is repaid.
• Tax refunds and lottery winnings. The handbook says federal or Arizona income tax refunds and Arizona Lottery winnings. DES's overpayment FAQ says a federal refund is taken only for fraud or unreported wages.
• Wages and lawsuits. DES may garnish wages, and the Attorney General or a county attorney may sue for the debt.

Repaying. Wait 21 days from the date on the determination before contacting DES's Office of Accounts Receivable and Collections. Pay online in the DES Online Payment System by card with the DES Account Number from your monthly statement, by phone at (844) 722-6247 option 1, or set up a payment plan at (602) 252-0024 or (800) 236-1475, option 1. By mail, send a check or money order to Arizona Department of Economic Security Office of Accounts Receivable and Collections, Dept 880918, P.O. Box 29650, Phoenix, AZ 85038. The paying-back page asks for your DES account number and the overpayment FAQ for your Social Security number and mailing address, so include all of them.

Fraud and identity theft

Knowingly making a false statement or hiding a fact to get benefits is a class 6 felony in Arizona, and each false statement is a separate offense. DES warns of up to 2 years in prison and fines up to $150,000 for each false statement. When it happened within the 24 months before a claim, the statute disqualifies you for that week and up to 51 weeks after; the handbook says up to 52 weeks. You can appeal a fraud finding like any other determination.

If you get messages about a claim you never filed, or an Electronic Payment Card you never applied for, someone may have filed in your name:

1. Contact your local police.
2. Submit DES's online fraud report with your Social Security number, your full name as it appears on the documents, and the mailing address they came to.
3. Destroy any payment card sent to you by mistake. DES does not need it back.

The U.S. Department of Labor lists 1-800-251-2436 as Arizona's line for reporting unemployment identity fraud. It also says that if a 1099-G shows benefits you never received, the state issues a corrected form, and you report only income you actually received without waiting for it. DES's 1099-G page has a video on disputing the form. DES never charges for unemployment services, and state workforce agencies never ask for sensitive information by text message.

Can you discharge an Arizona unemployment overpayment in bankruptcy?

DES's overpayment pages do not address bankruptcy. What they do say is that a person who cannot repay, even on a payment plan, still owes the debt and may face benefit offsets, wage garnishment, and tax refund intercepts, and that the only options are a waiver or voluntary or involuntary payments.

Federal bankruptcy law says a discharge does not wipe out a debt for money obtained by false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud. The same section says that kind of debt is still discharged unless the creditor asks and the bankruptcy court decides, after notice and a hearing, that it is excepted. DES's pages say nothing about how this applies to a non-fraud or administrative overpayment.

Before you count on bankruptcy, call the UI Call Center at 1-877-600-2722 and choose Option 3 for overpayments, and talk to a bankruptcy lawyer or legal aid office. The free legal groups DES lists are for first-level unemployment appeals only. In the other direction, Arizona law shields the unemployment benefits you receive from most creditors, though not from debts for necessities supplied while you were unemployed, child support enforcement by DES, or recovery of food stamp overissuances.