Reports

DOL's reported Unemployment Insurance improper payment rate of 9.17 percent is compliant with Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019, it is not representative of total unemployment expenses for program year 2020. This occurred for the following reasons: (1) DOL excluded CARES Act of 2020 because these unemployment payments were not in existence for more than 12 months, and (2) DOL received direction from Office of Management and Budget to utilize the results from the first three quarters of the program year. This allowed state workforce agencies to suspend work on improper payment sampling...

The purpose of this audit was to identify potential improper payments the Louisiana Workforce Commission made to incarcerated individuals who, according to LWC policy and state law, were ineligible to qualify for Unemployment Insurance and federally funded COVID-19 pandemic-related unemployment assistance programs. We found that LWC made approximately $6.2 million in State and Federal UI payments to 1,195 incarcerated individuals who do not appear to have been eligible for the benefits. We found that 81 percent identified through this analysis qualified through the Federal UI program designed...

The purpose of this audit was to identify potentially improper payments the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) made to deceased individuals. We found that, of the approximately $8.57 billion in State and Federal Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit payments made by LWC, approximately $1.08 million (0.013%) was paid to 374 individuals after they died. Of that amount, $629,091 in payments could not have been prevented, $337,007 of the payments should have been prevented by LWC’s current controls, and $123,194 could have been prevented if LWC conducted a weekly match with the Louisiana...

The objectives of this audit were to (1) assess the sufficiency of selected Unemployment Insurance Agency practices for worker onboarding and offboarding during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) to provide information on the administrative funding available to the Unemployment Insurance Agency during the COVID-19 pandemic and other relevant data. We found that the practices were not sufficient.

The objective of this audit was to determine whether the New York Department of Labor (Department) has taken appropriate steps to oversee and manage the Unemployment Insurance system and to comply with selected portions of the New York State Information Security Policy and Standards. Overall, we found deficiencies with the Department's oversight and management of its Unemployment Insurance system that ultimately compromised its ability to effectively mitigate risks related to the processing of claims.

The COVID-19 Pandemic presented the Department with many challenges and obstacles including a sharp increase in the volume of unemployment claims as well as the expansion of regular unemployment benefits by the federal government. The Department did not have the man-power or technology resources to adequately deal with this drastic increase in claim activity and the addition of new federal unemployment funding. The Department’s legacy unemployment System, Ohio Job Insurance (OJI), has been in place since 2004. Due to its age and functionality, it was unable to handle the increased volume of...

This audit report is the fifth and final in a series of audit reports on Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) claims processing during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report identifies that Michigan's UIA did not accurately assess fraud penalties on claims when it determined intentional misrepresentation occurred, and estimates the agency undercalculated penalties on these claims by nearly 50 percent.

This report provides the results of our evaluation of the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s (LWC) Unemployment Insurance program (State UI) and federally funded COVID-19 pandemic-related unemployment assistance programs (Federal UI). The purpose of this report was to identify potential overpayments or improper unemployment benefit payments LWC made to claimants. Overall, we found that LWC made approximately $2.9 million in payments that potentially violated unemployment benefit program rules outlined in federal and/or state law, including payments to claimants enrolled in multiple programs at...

This audit focuses on information and recommendations we can provide to improve the Oregon Employment Department's (OED) unemployment insurance system ahead of future surges in unemployment, similar to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have found that OED has made progress addressing some of the most public concerns, such as the inability of its phone-based system to handle the spike in claims that occurred in March 2020. Additionally, Oregon fared comparatively well in terms of fraud within their unemployment insurance program.

This audit report provides the results of our evaluation of the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s (LWC) Unemployment Insurance program and federally-funded COVID-19 pandemic-related unemployment assistance programs. The purpose of this audit was to determine if the IRS Form 1099-Gs (1099s) filed by LWC with the IRS accurately reported the amount of unemployment benefits paid to claimants during calendar years 2020 and 2021. Overall, we found that LWC filed accurate 1099s for unemployment benefits paid to 698,372 (99.7%) of 700,204 claimants in calendar year 2020. However, we found that LWC did...