Idahoans who have been overpaid in federal jobless benefits will have their full unemployment checks withheld until the amount is collected, the Idaho Department of Labor says.

The state is attempting to collect overpayments of $6.8 million in extended federal benefits paid to Idahoans when benefits were stretched up to 99 weeks from the 10 to 26 weeks normally paid to unemployed workers.

Overpayments came from adjustments to total wages a worker earned before being laid off, miscalculation of benefit amounts due to the complexity of the extended benefit process, and failure of claimants to report intermittent earnings while unemployed, department officials said.

The new recovery policy comes from the U.S. Department of Labor. It began with payments on July 8. In the past, half of the paychecks were withheld until the total amount was collected.