A judge has approved a $20 million class-action settlement covering thousands of people who were wrongly accused of fraud by Michigan when seeking unemployment benefits.

People accused of cheating to get jobless aid, were forced to repay money, along with substantial penalties, before the Unemployment Insurance Agency finally acknowledged widespread errors that affected more than 40,000 people. Although refunds were issued, the state still was sued by people who argued that their right to be heard was violated while they tried to sort things out.

Court of Claims Judge Douglas Shapiro, who signed off on the deal last week, says more than 8,000 people have been identified as possible beneficiaries of the settlement so far.