Overview
DUA did not investigate any of the 50 overpayments that were over $10,000 that were made to incarcerated individuals, totaling approximately $604,000. DUA also did not report these improper payments to the DOL Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for further investigation.
Because DUA did not report the overpayments to DOL OIG, DOL OIG was not able to investigate the causes of these overpayments and potentially prosecute any offenders.
Authoritative Guidance
DOL’s ETA’s Unemployment Insurance Program Letter No. 04–17 (Change 1) states,
Administrators or their designees report the following to the DOL-OIG:
- Suspected or alleged illegal or fraudulent activity with a loss in excess of $10,000 from the following categories will be reported to the DOL-OIG . . . Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA); and Any temporary UC program enacted by Congress.
Reasons for Issue
DUA officials told us in an email on June 7, 2023, “Because the total number of overpayments was so large, we did not make an effort to refer overpayments that would have only consisted of approximately 10 weeks of paid benefits.” Additionally, DUA officials told us that DOL would not have been interested in the claims because DUA did not denote overpayments made to incarcerated individuals as “at fault” or fraudulent. DUA did not conduct investigations to determine fault because of a lack of staff members available to conduct a proper investigation.
Recommendations
- DUA should develop and implement effective policies and procedures to ensure that it investigates overpayments over the $10,000 threshold to determine whether any of these claims are fraudulent.
- DUA should ensure that it reports overpayments to DOL OIG where it determines fault that meets required reporting thresholds.
Auditee’s Response
DUA provides the US Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General (OIG) a list of every claim filed with associated social security numbers, quarterly.
Specific to federal incarceration data, DUA now receives Prisoner Update Processing System (PUPS) data. DUA Program Integrity Staff review PUPS data and where necessary create an availability issue where there is a match with claimant information in the UI Online system.
Auditor’s Reply
As noted above in the above finding, we were told by a DUA official that “because the total number of overpayments was so large, [DUA] did not make an effort to refer overpayments that would have only consisted of approximately 10 weeks of paid benefits.”
DUA officials did not make us aware of, or provide us with, the quarterly reports filed with DOL OIG in connection with the PUA program. Therefore, we cannot comment on whether this quarterly report includes any of the 50 overpayments of PUA claims exceeding $10,000, which DUA insinuates with its response to this finding. Therefore, we reiterate our recommendations regarding this finding.
| Date published: | December 12, 2024 |
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