State targets questionable PUA claims

More than 217K ineligibility letters to go out

Applicants for hundreds of thousands of unemployment benefit claims filed through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program will soon receive ineligibility letters.

The state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation said Thursday that nearly 217,500 PUA ineligibility claim determinations will be sent out after it identified “a large number of questionable claims.”

The PUA program, aimed at self-employed workers or independent contractors, provides up to 46 weeks of benefits for eligible filers. More than 483,000 initial claims have been filed in Nevada through the week ending Oct. 3.

“Staff have been working to verify the identity of PUA claimants,” DETR said in a statement. “If identity cannot be validated, these cases have been determined to be ineligible.”

DETR officials said the state unemployment system is overwhelmed with fraud as it struggles to clear the backlog on legitimate claims. In late August, the agency piloted a program with identity verification platform Id.me to root out fraudulent applications.

DETR said that in each case the filer either did not follow through with an Id.me request for information or the claim was flagged for “questionable identity.”

Individuals affected can appeal the ineligible determination. DETR said it will waive its 11-day deadline for filers to request an appeal “due to the significant number of potential fraud claims.”

DETR’S announcement comes the same day federal prosecutors in Nevada announced they will prioritize prosecution of unemployment fraud against the state agency.