Labor & Industry still battling UC-related fraud
Fraudulent attempts to gain access to unemployment claims remains a pervasive issue in Pennsylvania and numerous other states.
State Labor & Industry secretary Jerry Oleksiak and Susan Dickinson, L&I’s unemployment compensation benefits policy director, spoke at length about that on Monday during the department’s weekly virtual conference.
Oleksiak said there have been new reports that fraudsters are trying to steal identities through emails and primarily Facebook, telling recipients they have won a prize and should click on link. Then after doing so, a victim is directed to take steps that tie his or her identity to the perpetrator’s login.
“Fraudsters are posing to be people helping claimants,” said Oleksiak, who reiterated that his department “will never contact you and ask for your personal, private information.
“If you receive a call, email, text, social media message, or other communication seeking information such as your user name, password or full Social Security number, do not provide it.”
L&I does not contact claimants via social media for security and confidentiality reasons, and advises anyone who suspects they have been a victim of fraud to report it to www.uc.pa.gov.
Fraudulent UC claims have been commonplace in recent months. Most are linked to the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, a lifeline for idled workers who are typically ineligible for traditional UC.
PUA and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program are offshoots of the federal CARES Act, which became law in March when the pandemic expanded across much of the nation.
PUA and PEUC are scheduled to expire in late December, but with coronavirus cases spiking – putting jobs in peril – the secretary again urged the federal government to extend or replace these programs.
The House and Senate, however, have been engaged in a stalemate on relief.
Some applicants seeking PUA or PEUC benefits are still awaiting determination of their cases, a month before those programs are slated to disappear. Dickinson said if those individuals are approved, they would be paid after the late December shutdown date.
“If we’re working on someone’s case, the individual won’t be penalized,” she said.
There is still a backlog of UC determinations to be made, although Oleksiak said the number has declined over several weeks from 70,000 to 50,000. “We had a record-shattering number of claims (in March) and it has taken us this much time to get this far.”
As for the benefits numbers since March 15, L&I has distributed more than $31 billion in total UC; $6 billion in traditional UC; $25 billion through CARES programs; and $1.8 billion in the federal Lost Wages Assistance program.