Purpose

The objectives of our examination were to determine whether: (i) Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit payments approved by the Department of Labor (Department) were appropriate; and (ii) the Department recouped overpayments from New York State employees based on our current and prior year data analytics.

Background

As part of our Office’s audit of the Department’s UI program, we examined high risk payment requests approved by the Department during the period January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017. We also used data analytics to identify and facilitate the recovery of previous overpayments due and owing to the Department from New York State employees.

Key Findings

We identified 2,956 overpayments totaling nearly $1.1 million and 902 underpayments totaling more than $98,000. Based on the overpayments identified, DOL assessed $1,852,169 in penalties to claimants who made false statements or representations to obtain benefits to which they were not entitled. We also worked with DOL to offset $204,464 in UI benefit payments against penalties assessed for overpayments we identified, recover $426,637 in overpayments owed by State employees and identify an additional $275,575 in potential recoveries from State employees hired during 2017.

Key Recommendations

Work collaboratively with our Office to identify and implement opportunities to help detect and prevent erroneous UI benefit payments.

For a complete copy of Report 2018-UI-01, click here.