In the wake of heavily increased levels of unemployment benefits provided across the country as part of COVID-19 relief packages, more states are uncovering flawed payments or abuses of the system. Mississippi is the latest state to announce that an audit found problems with unemployment benefits. State auditor Shad White found that Mississippi incorrectly paid out more than $117 million in unemployment benefits last year and during the early months of the pandemic.
Among the recipients of improper payments were people who had never lost their job, inmates, and others who never qualified to receive aid. These findings mirror those in states such as California, where $11 billion in unemployment overpayments have been identified, White said.
Many requirements and internal controls that were previously in place to qualify for aid were lifted at the onset of the pandemic. One protocol that was temporarily lifted in Mississippi was the requirement people slated to receive benefits had to prove to the state they were actively searching for a job and submit applications.
The Department of Employment Security Executive Director Jaqueline Turner adamantly disagreed with the auditor’s report, arguing that they were working under federal orders from Governor Tate Reeves and then-President Trump which countermanded state policy.
“MDES respectfully disagrees with this finding because it does not acknowledge or allow for the existence of this pandemic, or the radically new and different federal programs implemented during the disaster,” Turner wrote in her response letter to White.
Incorrect pandemic relief payments and benefits have been a common occurrence this past year, as states across the country made errors amidst the chaotic beginnings of the coronavirus outbreak. Overpayments made by Mississippi’s Department of Employment Security after June 30, 2020, will appear in next year’s audit report. 