Michigan Unemployment Director Reassigned Amid Massive False Fraud Allegations
Head of Mich. Unemployment Insurance Agency moved to new post. More than 20,000 recipients wrongly accused of fraud.
The head of Michigan’s unemployment insurance agency is being moved to a different position amid complaints that the state falsely accused tens of thousands of recipients of welfare fraud.
State officials say former Unemployment Insurance Director Sharon Moffett-Massey has been reassigned to another position.
The move comes after the state was criticized – and sued – for allegedly using an automated system beginning in 2013 that incorrectly flagged some on unemployment for having submitted fraudulent claims.
The state then penalized those recipients up to four times the amount they were wrongly accused of stealing, including garnishing wages and taking their income tax return payments.
A review found that over 90% of the people accused of fraud did nothing wrong.
State officials say they have paid back a total of more than $5 million to those people.
But Michigan Congressman Sander Levin says the state has reviewed only about 20,000 unemployment fraud cases and there are tens of thousands of others that need to be resolved.
