A fifth and final audit of the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency found the agency “undercounted fraud penalties by at least 49.4%” because it didn’t fix programming issues with the Michigan Integrated Data Automated System.
The audit from the Office of Auditor General Doug Ringler marked two “material conditions” – the most severe rating finding that the agency didn’t protect agency funds.
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A Detroit resident pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing more than $550,000 of taxpayer money with the help of a former Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency contract employee, announced U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison.
William Haynes, 26, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith. Haynes admitted to engaging in a criminal conspiracy with Autumn Mims, a former contract UIA examiner for Michigan. Mims’s duties included reviewing, processing, and verifying the legitimacy of unemployment insurance claims.
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Michiganders who believe they were falsely accused of fraud between 2013-15 for receiving unemployment insurance benefits should know two upcoming deadlines to join a $20 million class action settlement with the state of Michigan.
The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency blames an old computer system for wrongly accusing roughly 40,000 people of fraud.
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An audit released Friday from the Office of Auditor General Doug Ringler marked 11 “material conditions” – the most severe rating – for how the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency operated during the pandemic, which resulted in losing billions of taxpayer dollars.
The audit found the UIA couldn’t support the appropriateness of $10.2 billion in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments, mostly because it added invalid eligibility criteria in the PUA application and didn’t require some PUA claimants to certify they met federal eligibility criteria.
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The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency has chosen a vendor to design and install a new $78 million computer system to replace its previous system, which was riddled with flaws.
Deloitte will build the new system for filing UIA claims for workers and employers.
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The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency was granted U.S. Department of Labor approval to halt 391,769 state tax return intercepts and new wage garnishments for ineligible unemployment claims during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency announced on Thursday it will forgive an additional $55.6 million in overpayments.
This round of waivers pertains to nearly 7,300 jobless claims the agency erroneously issued during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as $2.4 million of refunds for claimants paying back benefits or applied toward overpayments.
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The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency failed to perform employee background checks or sever timely ex-employee access to a system that processed more than $36 billion in claims, an auditor general report found.
Auditor General Doug Ringler said the UIA spent $60.8 million on the Michigan Integrated Data Automated System but didn’t take other safeguards to prevent unemployment fraud.
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The Michigan House approved a range of bills that aim to reform the embattled Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) that has mishandled at least $8.5 billion since March 2020.
When the UIA acknowledged losing $4 billion of taxpayer money, it admitted: “mistakes were made.”
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Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance agency paid out more than $8 billion in fraudulent claims from March 2020 to September 2021, according to a new report from Deloitte.
According to the consulting agency, an estimated 10.16 percent of the funds were paid out to individuals “involving likely imposter fraud.” Furthermore, an additional 20.21 percent to people “involving likely intentional misrepresentation fraud.”
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Michigan State Senator Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Township) on Friday pledged to utilize the state legislature’s Oversight committees to investigate the mistakes of the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA).
McBroom, who serves as the chair of the Senate Oversight Committee, promised a joint hearing with his counterparts in the Michigan House.
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