Department: Labor Title: Internal control over UI claim payments needs improvement Questioned Costs: Known: $19,278 Likely: $2,700,000 Status: Management?s opinion is that corrective action is not required (first item) Corrective action in progress (remaining items) Corrective Action: The Department...
Department: Labor Title: Internal control over UI claim payments needs improvement Questioned Costs: Known: $19,278 Likely: $2,700,000 Status: Management?s opinion is that corrective action is not required (first item) Corrective action in progress (remaining items) Corrective Action: The Department disagrees with the findings around the PUA program and the timing of the notices to provide Proof of Employment for continued eligibility. USDOL in its guidance acknowledged that it would take time to implement the new requirement from a systems and operational perspective. The Department worked diligently to implement the new requirement (along with other requirements from the CAA) as soon as possible. Furthermore, the PUA program was a one-time program created by the Federal government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to provide monetary support to those individuals who traditionally do not qualify for unemployment compensation benefits. All CARES Act programs, including PUA, ended in September, 2021. At this time there is no corrective action we can take, as the program no longer exists in its prior form. At most we may still see PUA eligibility as a result of a pending appeal, or court case. We will follow established processes at that time, which are based on Federal guidance provided. The Department will add a text field to obtain more information on the location of a job fair or the name of an activity when a claimant reports a CareerCenter job fair or other activity as a work search. Information will be provided to businesses through a new report for review. The Department will create a work search issue for fact-finding and possible adjudication when a claimant reports a CareerCenter Job Fair or other activity as a work search more than three times. The Department will review functionality of Vital Statistics Crossmatch to ensure that all data related to date of death for active claimants is received as timely as possible. The Department will add system controls when entering a date of birth, both for claimants and businesses to prevent avoidable data entry errors. Completion Date: June 30, 2023 (second and third items), June 30, 2024 (fourth and fifth items) Agency Contact: Laura Boyett, Director, Bureau of Unemployment Compensation, DOL, 207-621-5156