Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action:
Due to the health concerns of the pandemic as well as unprecedented claims volume, claimants were not required to come into a local office for identity verification, the waiting week was waived for 2020, and the requirements for work sear...
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action:
Due to the health concerns of the pandemic as well as unprecedented claims volume, claimants were not required to come into a local office for identity verification, the waiting week was waived for 2020, and the requirements for work search were adjusted in order to protect employees and claimants. Before the pandemic, all claimants were required to come to the local office to verify their identity. Removing these process controls resulted in several consequences as itemized below:
• By waiving the waiting week, the claimant was able to receive payment the following week. For example, a fraudster could file a claim on Friday, then receive payment on Sunday, removing the typical week that an employer would respond to validate the separation from employment.
• The information mailed to the employer and claimant were not received before payments were made due to the lack of waiting week.
• Businesses were closed at that time and did not respond to the unemployment paperwork timely to report fraudulent claims.
• Identity theft fraudsters often changed the address of the individuals for which they had filed claims in order to prevent the victims from being notified and reporting the fraud.
In 2020, the work search requirement was reinstated. In 2021, all claimants had to verify their identity in-person at the local office before the claim was opened for a regular unemployment claim. The UIdentify program was utilized for identity verification for the PUA claims filed after January 1, 2021. The waiting week was reinstated in January 2021, which lengthened the time period for employers to respond before payment was issued.
In addition, Internal Audit created the Fraud Investigation Unit and hired additional staff to focus on investigating the identity theft fraud claims. When the perpetrator is identified, a determination is issued and an overpayment is established in the perpetrator’s name/SSN for collection. The NASWA Integrity Data Hub (IDH) crossmatch was implemented in July 2020 as well in an effort to identify additional fraudulent claims for investigation.
ADWS was the first UI program to implement 2 projects with the Department of Labor for identity verification. One is using Login.gov and the other involves the United States Postal Service where they verify the identity of claimants for using multifactor authentication and in person presentation of ID. The Login.gov pilot started in 2022 and the USPS pilot project started in 2023.
1. The Login.gov project uses the current system that Federal agencies use to verify identity and went into service in Arkansas as of March 2022. A link is given to the claimant, when they select verify ID through login.gov and go through the steps to verify their identity through the federal government system. If they are approved, we are sent an IA2 verification to the UI processing system to allow staff to match back to the claim to prove ID verification.
2. The United States Postal Service project, implements in Arkansas March 2023, offers the claimant the same link as Login.gov, but grants the additional option to verify their identity at any US Post Office in the country. A barcode is created and must be taken with a valid government-issued ID (they are given examples) along with proof of current address to the post office in person. If they are approved, we are sent an IA2 verification to the UI processing system to allow staff to match back to the claim to prove ID verification.
Anticipated Completion Date: Corrective action was taken for the ALA staff recommendations.
Contact Person:
Name: Sheri Rooney
Title: Program Administrator
Agency: Division of Workforce Services
Address: 2 Capitol Mall
City, State, Zip: Little Rock, AR 72201
Phone Number: 501-682-3382
Email Address: Sheri.Rooney@arkansas.gov