Anna Hui

House members said the department agreed to stop sending letters threatening to garnish the money, but more than 30 people recently received letters saying the department filed a lien on their property.

The state is demanding that more than 46,000 people pay back money the state said it mistakenly overpaid them last year. Some lawmakers worry that fighting appeals will be costly to Missouri and are trying to block collection of the money.

Six Missouri state representatives are working to pass legislation to forgive some or all of the unemployment overpayments that the Missouri Department of Labor is asking 46,000 residents to pay back.

Missouri is not yet able to process unemployment claims from independent contractors and people who are self-employed, even though the federal government…