Combating crooks delays handling of jobless claims
when a lot of people are out of work, the spotlight falls on unemployment benefits: Are laid-off workers receiving aid in a timely manner? Can they get questions answered and problems sorted out without waiting days or even weeks?
Complaints about the state’s hard-to-navigate unemployment insurance (UI) system and lousy customer service exploded when layoffs from COVID shutdowns buried the massachusetts Department of unemployment Assistance.
these days, the job market is strong and claims are low. You don’t hear much about the DUA.
but that doesn’t mean the agency has dug out fully from the pandemic’s avalanche.
while the DUA has kicked claims processing into higher gear — and is outperforming US states overall — unemployed workers can still find themselves frustrated by extended delays. Strict measures to combat rampant fraud, especially by organized crime rings, bear a lot of the blame.
A review of data collected by the US Department of Labor underscores the need for most states to do a far better job running their UI systems before the next economic downturn arrives.
The news: Over the 12 months ended in february, the DUA completed an average of two-thirds of its most common level of appeals within 45 days, new Labor Department statistics show. that’s up from just one-fifth of cases in the previous 12-month period. In february, 22 percent of unresolved appeals had lingered in the system for 41 days or more, a drop from 67 percent a year earlier.
The department deserves credit for the turnaround.
But the DUA’S performance is not back to where it was before the pandemic.
Consider that an average of 82 percent of appeals were resolved within 45 days for the 12-month stretch ended in february 2020. that month, less than 14 percent of appeals had been in the system for 41 days or more.
Prior to the pandemic, the DUA didn’t challenge applicant identities
Massachusetts is a frequent target of scammers because it has the highest maximum weekly benefit in the country.
as vigorously as today to combat scammers. that enhanced security skews comparisons between today and pre-COVID times, the department says.
the DUA “is committed to ensuring program integrity while expeditiously sending benefits to eligible claimants,” Matthew Kitsos, a spokesperson for the executive office of Labor and Workforce Development, said in a statement. “With its continued efforts, constant progress monitoring, and learning innovative new strategies from our partners across the country, DUA expects that the average age of appeals will continue to improve within the next 60 days.”
Why it matters: the state’s jobless rate was 2.9 percent in February, a full percentage point below the nation’s. But for a laid-off worker, what’s more important is how quickly a lost paycheck can be offset by unemployment benefits so food can be bought and bills paid. And speed is especially critical during periods of large layoffs because benefits help cushion the economy from the decline in consumer spending.
The DUA resolved more than 62,000 claims appeals from mid-February 2023 through the middle of this month.
A claim can be denied for several reasons, including when an applicant fails to meet eligibility requirements or when an employer says the worker quit or was fired with good cause.
The claimant was deemed eligible for benefits in 20 percent of the cases.
Stepping back: Most states are faring oK, paying most first-time claims within the federal standard of two to three weeks. But they are falling behind in reviewing benefit rejections.
Nationally, more than half of appeals took more than three months — and sometimes much longer — to be resolved over the past year. In 2019, 99 percent of appeals were completed within three months.
“The appeals process is really slowing down,” said Michele evermore, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation who has studied state claims data sent to the Us Labor Department.
In a new report, evermore, a former Labor Department official, cites several reasons for the delays, including the ongoing battle against fraud, as well as states’ reliance on old technology and difficulties replacing staff lost during the pandemic.
Massachusetts was hit by a surge in bogus claims last spring, which slowed down initial payments and the appeals process for months.
The same thing happened again more recently, according to the DUA. the state is a frequent target of scammers because it has the highest maximum weekly benefit in the country.
Final thought: the state’s UI system is drawing minimal public scrutiny right now. the DUA has been beefing up its processes and technology, and it’s showing results.
But more improvement is necessary, and as they say, it’s best to fix the roof while the sun is shining.