The Homa Files

While many Americans are feeling the pain of expired unemployment benefits, some have gotten a good chunk more than they were legally eligible for.

Preliminary estimates released by the Department of Labor find that, in 2009, states paid $76.8 billion in unemployment benefits … more than $7.1 billion (over 9%) were overpayments in unemployment insurance

Fraud accounted for $1.55 billion in estimated overpayments last year, while errors by state agencies were blamed for $2.27 billion, according to the Labor Department.

Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Jane Oates testified before Congress in May that the top cause for overpayments was people returning to work and continuing to claim benefits.

Other overpayments are often the result of the unemployed errantly claiming that they were laid off instead of fired for cause — the latter of which typically disqualifies a person for benefits.

Excerpted from ABC NEWS: Labor Dept. Estimates $7.1 Billion in Overpayments to Unemployed, July 9, 2010 
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/underemployed-overpaid-states-shell-unemployment/story?id=11118137

This entry was posted on July 16, 2010 at 6:37 am and is filed under Employment - Jobs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.