The Ohio Auditor’s office uncovered enough fraud in the state’s unemployment system to prompt a separate audit while simultaneously investigating the state agency that oversees unemployment assistance payments. To date, a total of $2 billion in fraudulent payments have been identified. A full audit report will be released in September.
Ohio State Senator Teresa Fedor is demanding answers from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) as to why some people are not receiving aid after having their unemployment information hacked, MSN reported. “This is a serious problem. We need to make these folks whole,” Fedor said to ODJFS Deputy Director Julie Smith during a meeting of lawmakers on Tuesday. “It’s not their fault. It’s the system’s fault.”
Smith insisted the improper payments are “a thing of the past” when questioned about the failures, largely due to the recent launch of a two-step authentication efforts in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance online portal. Ohio is not alone in its recent struggle to overcome obstacles within unemployment assistance programs. Recently, Mississippi’s state auditor discovered that a total of $117 million in unemployment funds were incorrectly paid out over the past year.
Many of the unemployment disasters can be traced back to technological problems and staffing issues. When the pandemic hit, the agency was overrun with claims and unequipped to adequately manage the sudden increase in volume, along with the increase in those trying to game the system.
“In the rush to get payments out the door, we let go of some of our internal processes that were meant to combat fraud,” Smith said. “Would that have made a difference on the type of fraud we’re seeing today? It’s anybody’s guess.”
Ohio’s debacle is the latest example of internal shortcomings that could have been prevented with updated technology. The work is far from over for many states in terms of getting back to pre-pandemic efficiency and accuracy, as many continue to battle fraudulent unemployment claims. 