(The Center Square) – The Georgia inspector general has preliminary identified more than $6.7 million in false unemployment insurance payments to hundreds of state employees.
In a letter Wednesday to Gov. Brian Kemp’s executive counsel David Dove, State Inspector General Scott McAfee said more than 280 full-time state employees received the payments in error in 2020 or 2021. Payments averaged about $23,700 per employee.
According to the Lettertotals are a “conservative estimate” because the review “excluded employees who applied and received less than $1,000, were part-time, no longer actively employed by the state, or applicants who received benefits by debit card, rather than direct electronic transmission.”
“Offices of IGs and other investigative agencies across the country continue to struggle with the sheer volume of referrals coming in,” McAfee wrote. “Unfortunately, this office can confirm that Georgia’s state workforce was not immune.”
The IG combined data from the State Accounting Office and the US Department of Labor’s Inspector General to develop the estimate. The Georgia Department of Labor paid out more than $22.9 billion in UI-related benefits in fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2021.
According to McAfee, a GDOL UI claims adjuster was among the state employees who received benefits. The employee “received approximately $31,220 and … continued to update a fraudulent UI account while employed at GDOL,” McAfee wrote.
In his letter, McAfee urged lawmakers to consider legislation that extends the statute of limitations for prosecuting pandemic-related fraud. He also wants lawmakers to give his office administrative subpoena powers, and said the SAO and GDOL should coordinate quarterly to confirm that state employees have not filed false or incorrect UI applications without state employment details.
A spokesman for Kemp confirmed that the governor’s office received the letter and is reviewing it.
“The Office of the Inspector General today sent a letter to the Governor’s Office alleging that unemployment insurance fraud was committed by over 280 state employees,” GDOL said in a statement. “It is not clear to GDOL how the Office of the Inspector General obtained the sensitive UI data it used as the basis for its UI fraud allegations. UI Program Data is confidential and may be disclosed only in limited circumstances permitted by state and federal law.
“The Georgia Department of Labor is the only agency authorized under Georgian law to determine unemployment fraud. This can only be done after conducting a full payroll investigation in accordance with state and federal law,” the agency added. “GDOL has worked fully with other government agencies, including OIG, providing extensive UI records where regulatory requirements have been met. This agency will continue to follow the laws established by the state and federal governments, which is our legal responsibility, and will work to recover overpayments as required by law.”
Last year federal authorities indicted eight people they say conspired to defraud Georgia out of millions of dollars in unemployment benefits. According to the FBI, the eight conspired to cheat GDOL out of $30 million in benefits intended to help unemployed Georgians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Experts then told Center Square that the indictments illustrated the potential vulnerability of government systems.
Updated information
This story has been updated with comment from the Georgia Department of Labor.
