Finding: 1 of 60 individuals had a return-to-work date submitted by the employer, however, the claimant received three payments after that date. DLT did not investigate any potential overpayment. (Questioned costs - $2,139)
We do not concur with this finding. Per ETA guidance, specifically UIPL ...
Finding: 1 of 60 individuals had a return-to-work date submitted by the employer, however, the claimant received three payments after that date. DLT did not investigate any potential overpayment. (Questioned costs - $2,139)
We do not concur with this finding. Per ETA guidance, specifically UIPL 01-16, because this claim was in payment status, we have to continue to make timely weekly payments (after proper certification), and an overpayment cannot be deemed recoverable until an official ineligibility determination is rendered.
Unemployment Insurance Program Letter 01-16 states “in order to be eligible to receive administrative grants, a state must do the following in context of identifying and establishing improper payments…continue to make timely UC payments (if due) and wait to commence recovery of overpayments until an official determination of ineligibility is made…”
In addition to the above requirement, data that State Workforce Agencies gather from crossmatch sources such as IB4, wage record /benefit, SDNH and NDNH wage/benefit have to be verified prior to initiating a decision disqualifying benefits. The actual cross match itself simply produces possible cases to investigate. The investigation is then initiated when the department sends out a request for wages form (720). When the form is returned by the employer the department can then use the verified information to render a disqualifying decision. A crossmatch itself is not enough to render a working and collecting determination based on wage record data as the claimant may have had actual earning within the quarter. The date identified on a NDNH crossmatch also is not enough to render a disqualification. This information needs to be verified.
From: Unemployment Insurance 401 Handbook ETA 227 – OVERPAYMENT DETECTION AND RECOVERY ACTIVITIES
E. Definitions
4. Cases Investigated. The number of cases emanating from a state-initiated overpayment detection process for which an investigation regarding a potential overpayment has been concluded. Example: during a wage/benefit crossmatch process, a state agency produces a printout identifying all benefit payments matched against wages in the same quarter. After the printout is screened, requests are sent to employers to identify which weeks in the quarter were worked. When an employer reply indicates overlap with weeks for which benefits were paid, claims are investigated to determine if they were overpaid.
This was a continued claim that was effective 8/13/23 and the claimant certified weekly through 2/17/24. The RTW date listen on the ledger was autogenerated on 2/27/24. At this time the claimant had exhausted their balance of credits, all benefits had been paid. The date listed as the return-to-work date from the NDNH crossmatch stated 1/30/24. Since this date had the potential to affect benefits the department initiated it’s investigation and did send a 720 form to the employer to obtain the proper wage information. Since the requested information was not returned by the employer, the department lacked the proper information necessary to render a disqualification based on ETA guidelines.
Finding: 1 of 60 was not registered within EmployRI and staff were unable to locate any records of the claimant. (Questioned costs - $10,829)
The agency concurs with the above finding that includes state UC questioned costs of $10,829.
This exception was caused by a programming (IT system) error. A nightly job is run that is sent to Workforce Development (Geosol) which then registers claimant’s with EmployRI. An issue was discovered on claims where the effective date of the claim was 56 days prior to the first payment being issued. These claimants were not populated on the nightly transfer to Workforce.
ETSS has confirmed that this programming error has been fixed.
We acknowledge the Auditor’s recommendations and offer the following response. We feel the findings, while relevant, are de minimis in scope, when compared to the workload volumes processed.
Our current unemployment systems (Tax and Benefits) are aged and distressed. Due to their age and technology constraints, any changes or modifications needed, cannot be easily or quickly implemented. As such a larger burden is placed on staff to handle manually. DLT ‘s limited technology resources combined with having limited staffing resources also hinder our efficiency. We have limited staff resources to manually address our workload volumes, as well as the sheer number of forms involved in making proper determinations. In addition to this, the law requires benefit payments to be made timely based on available information until verifiable evidence is found that justifies a disqualification. Therefore, until we can implement a more modernized tax and benefits system, we acknowledge that similar findings such as these may persist.
We will continue to utilize the resources we currently have and strive to be more efficient. We hope that by providing additional staff training and by strengthening our relationship with Workforce Development, this improved efficiency will be realized.
We are in the process of evaluating whether or not an amendment to our work search requirement, is needed. In doing so, we will evaluate whether any changes are necessary to either; our internal policy, the guidance provided on the claimant’s benefit rights, the guidance displayed on DLT’s website and to regulation 1.18 Filing of Claims for Unemployment Insurance Benefits. Any necessary modifications will be made.
Anticipated Completion Date: December 31, 2025
Contact Person: Philip D’Ambra, Director of Income Support, Department of Labor and Training
philip.l.dambra@dlt.ri.gov