Purpose

The objectives of our examination were to determine if payment requests and payments DOL approved were appropriate, and if DOL recouped overpayments based on current and prior year findings.

Background

To accomplish our objectives, we used data analytics to select 57,054 transactions for audit, including: (i) high risk payment requests DOL approved in 2016; and (ii) prior year payments related to those 2016 payment requests.

Key Findings

• We identified 4,864 overpayments totaling more than $1.6 million.
• Based on the overpayments we identified, DOL assessed $217,290 in monetary penalties to 137 claimants. We also identified 345 underpayments totaling $64,206, which is comprised of $13,278 in current payments and $50,928 in future payments that claimants would not have received had DOL not taken corrective actions based on our findings.
• As the result of our Office’s current and prior years’ findings, DOL also recovered $247,483 in forfeited UI benefits from claimants who DOL determined made false statements or representations to obtain benefits to which they were not entitled.
• In addition to our audit efforts, we worked cooperatively with DOL to identified $238,792 in potential recoveries for past UI overpayments from 130 New York State employees hired during calendar year 2016. In addition, in calendar year 2016, DOL recovered $342,415 from New York State employees who owed DOL for past UI overpayments through this cooperative effort.