State says it’s still getting a handle on unemployment fraud
The California Employment Development Department said Feb. 18 that it is still working through possible fraud cases after the agency identified 1.4 million unemployment benefit claims that needed additional verification. Out of the 1.4 claims suspended towards the end of 2020, 1.1 million people were directed to verify their identity with ID.me and Thomson Reuters. Read More →
Guilty pleas in $2 million unemployment fraud case in Santa Barbara County
Three people have pleaded guilty in Santa Barbara County to multiple counts of felony unemployment benefit fraud and identity theft, in just one example of the type of fraud that has cost the state tens of billions of dollars during the pandemic. The three defendants were Gordon Alan Welterlen and Nicole Michelle Milan, of San Read More →
Inmates may have taken state for $1B in fraudulent unemployment benefits
California’s unemployment benefits system has been rife with fraud since the pandemic began and may have handed out upwards of $1 billion to jail and prison inmates, a coalition of local, state and federal prosecutors announced at a Sacramento news conference on Nov. 24. Tens of thousands of inmates at county, state and federal prisons Read More →
Region braces for end of UI benefit bonus
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UI fund deficit requires multipronged approach
While California’s political class is salivating over the thought of tax windfalls and a spending spree, the state’s employers are coughing up $1.7 billion in payroll taxes this month to put a small patch over the state’s insolvent unemployment fund. That enormous haul was enough to close just a fraction of the $8 billion the Read More →
Editorial: Rethinking the state’s broken unemployment system
More than 500,000 Californians receive as much as $450 per week in unemployment benefits that until recently could last for 99 weeks.
From unemployed to self-employed: New law ignores moral hazard
If Uncle Sam would pay you to become unemployed for six months and then create a small business, wouldn’t you want to become an entrepreneur?
