Reports
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Department of Education OIG
Puerto Rico Department of Education’s Use of ARP ESSER Funds to Measure Student Academic Progress
Congress passed three coronavirus relief acts within a 1-year period that provided more than $275 billion for an Education Stabilization Fund to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus, including $189.5 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER). The American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) provided $122 billion for ESSER to help State educational agencies (SEA) and local educational agencies (LEA) safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on students. Ensuring that ARP ESSER funds are used...
Department of Labor OIG
COVID-19: Recovery of Millions in Pandemic-Related UI Overpayments Improperly Waived, Including Fraud
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) was responsible for oversight of CARES Act UI programs. Based on concerns that states may have unintentionally waived the recovery of ineligible overpayments, including fraud, DOL OIG performed an audit to determine if ETA’s guidance and oversight ensure states only waived the recovery of eligible overpayments? DOL OIG found ETA’s guidance and oversight did not ensure states only waived the recovery of eligible overpayments for the three key pandemic-related UI programs from March 27, 2020, to June 30, 2023. ETA did not detect that Michigan and...
Department of Labor OIG
ETA Did Not Ensure ARPA Grants Demonstrated Improvements in Access to Unemployment Benefits
DOL OIG was concerned about ETA’s ability to deploy ARPA grant funding. Therefore, DOL OIG performed an audit to determine: To what extent did ETA administer these grants in accordance with ARPA and DOL’s objectives for UI access, and are grant recipients on target to achieve performance outcomes? OIG found ETA did not ensure the grants demonstrated improvements in access to UI benefits nor were they awarded in a way that would maximize impact of the funding. ETA did not ensure states reported complete and accurate outcome metrics and status updates in quarterly progress reports. Finally, ETA...
Department of Labor OIG
COVID-19: ETA Needs to Improve Its Oversight of States' Efforts to Identify Multistate UI Fraud
As of September 2022, the OIG reported $45.6 billion in unemployment insurance fraud, primarily from multistate claimants ($29 billion). The DOL OIG initiated audits, focusing on the ETA's oversight of potentially fraudulent CARES Act UI claims. Regis identified that seven of ten state workforce agencies confirmed fraudulent claims but noted limited action from the ETA in monitoring investigations or ensuring effective fraud identification tools. Regis examined 181 claimants, finding $1.6 million in payments, with $404,288 confirmed as fraudulent (25% fraud rate). Regis offered three...