Rep. Levin Issues Statement on 44,000 Inaccurate Unemployment Insurance Fraud Determinations

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 -- Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., issued the following statement in response to release of the review of unemployment insurance fraud cases conducted by the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency:

"After intense pressure, we are seeing some progress in addressing a huge scandal that left tens of thousands of Michiganders wrongly accused of fraud by a deeply flawed system. While this should never have happened, it is a positive step that the state is repaying nearly $21 million to those individuals who were harmed by this false fraud accusation.

"However, significant questions still remain about the enormous growth in the state's fund for collecting fraud penalties during the period of this review, previous information on the scope of this review, and how the State determined fraud in those cases that were not overturned during this review.

"I have been seeking for some time answers to these questions, and will continue to do so."

Since his April 2016 letter to the Governor (http://levin.house.gov/sites/levin.house.gov/files/documents/Governor%20Snyder%20Letter%20MiDAS.pdf), Rep. Levin has continued to call for a full review of fraud determinations made when the automated computer system, the Michigan Integrated Data Automated System (MiDAS), was in use.

In this most recent set of data released, the State reviewed 62,784 cases representing 49,910 individuals. According to UIA data, fraud determinations were overturned about 70% of the time. Previously, the state had noted that the universe of cases was 53,633. The state fund collecting Penalties and Interest has grown from $3 million in 2011 to over $160 million, and the state has shifted these funds to help balance the budget.