Michigan House Oversight Committee to investigate Unemployment Insurance Agency
(The Center Square) – Michigan House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Johnson, R-Wayland, announced Wednesday an in-depth investigation into the state’s Unemployment Insurance Agency.
The UIA has been under fire for more than a year, a period that saw a spike in unemployment claims prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and government-mandated business lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. Michigan unemployment averaged 10% throughout 2020.
During that time, one UIA employee was implicated in a scheme to defraud $2 million from the agency, while the UIA struggled with a backlog of approximately 140,000 unemployment applications. The situation was rendered worse when the agency’s director, Steve Gray, resigned in November 2020, and it was revealed he signed a confidentiality agreement with the state and received an $85,872 severance package.
The most recent concerns of UIA mismanagement occurred this past week, when it was revealed a UIA contract employee, Autumn Mims, was charged by federal prosecutors for a scheme in which she opened bank accounts into which she deposited fraudulent unemployment claims.
Late last month, the agency mailed letters to approximately 648,000 recipients of federal pandemic unemployment assistance (PUA), stating they needed to file more paperwork and may have to reimburse the state for the benefits they had already received.
“The Unemployment Agency has been a complete mess,” Johnson said in a statement. “From all the fraudulent activity occurring within the Agency to their latest letter to nearly 700,000 Michiganders potentially demanding they pay funds back, the UIA is a disaster and there needs to be leadership changes now,” he added.
Johnson also noted the state should consider asking Steve Gray to return his severance package before requiring people pay back the state for the UIA’s mistakes.
“How about before asking people to pay funds back due to the state’s mistake, they ask former director Steve Gray to pay back his $86,000 hush fund payment,” he said.
Eric Ventimiglia, executive director for Michigan Rising Action, supports the House Oversight Committee investigation.
“Governor Whitmer and her administration have repeatedly tried to avoid accountability for their negligence in the state’s unemployment agency, but today’s investigation announcement proves that this dereliction of duty will not stand,” he said in a statement.
“We applaud Representative Steve Johnson for his commitment to uncovering the truth behind the disarray at the state’s unemployment office, which has left thousands of Michiganders helpless as they’ve struggled to navigate Whitmer’s crippling COVID shutdowns and restrictions,” Ventimiglia said.
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