Unemployment insurance has the second highest improper payment rate of any federal program in the country. You can blame unemployment fraud for that. Any time someone collects unemployment benefits while knowingly misrepresenting information, they are contributing to improper payments and committing fraud.

These three common types of unemployment fraud represent a significant portion of overpayments:
• Unreported or Underreported Earnings: Not reporting all income for each week a person requests payment. This can include simple earnings, holiday pay, sick days or vacation payments.
• Working Full Time while Claiming Benefits: Someone continues to request benefits once they have accepted and started another full time job. This happens more often than you might think.
• Collecting While Receiving Disability or Worker’s Compensation: Employees collecting disability or worker’s compensation are not eligible to receive additional support through unemployment benefits.

Don’t be an easy target!

Here are three steps employers can take to streamline their claims approach and protect their company:
• Audit Charge Statements Regularly: Auditing your charge statements as soon as they come in is crucial for detecting unreported or underreported earnings, claimants collecting while out on disability or worker’s compensation, and other sources of overpayment. People who use our software are able to stay organized and on top of their charge statements. Unemployment Tracker’s centralized approach helps them manage all of their aspects in one powerful, user-friendly dashboard.
• Electronic Claims Imports: Nobody’s perfect. That’s why manually entering claims data into crowded spreadsheets leaves a large margin for human error. Avoid the risk by integrating software that allows you to electronically import unemployment insurance claims.
• Centralized Data: It’s easy to overlook something when you are busy keeping track of numerous files and spreadsheets. Minimize the threat by housing all your claims information in one place.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. In my last blog, we explored several other avenues in which people wrongfully collect benefits. Read up on other types of fraud including falsifying information, misrepresenting termination and sabotaging one’s work search to gain unemployment insurance benefits.

Feeling like this is a lot to take in? You’re not alone. Overpaid unemployment insurance benefits top $14 billion. We’re here to make sure you don’t become a statistic. If you have questions or feel your company has been taken advantage of, help starts here. Contact us today.