D.C. workers collect unemployment payments while on city payroll, IG finds

washingtonexaminer.com ^ | 10/2/14 | Mark Flatten

[cotton1706]

Getting a job with the District of Columbia does not mean you have to give up your unemployment checks, a new investigation found.

The DC Department of Employment Services, or DC DOES, cannot show it has done much to ensure city employees stop collecting unemployment insurance payments once they get hired, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Department of Labor’s inspector general.

DC DOES is responsible for preventing unemployment fraud in the city. Since 2011, there have been repeated allegations of fraudulent activities at DC DOES, including creating false claims and providing unemployment benefits for relatives.

Many of those allegations have been confirmed by inspectors general for the city and the Labor Department, both of which have issued a series of recommendations to prevent improper payments.

Yet DC DOES has not implemented the recommendations to prevent fraud by city employees and cannot guarantee they are not double-dipping, according to the DOL IG.

“DC DOES could not demonstrate that it took action on those employees who were found to be simultaneously working and receiving UI benefits,” the DOL-IG report says. “As a result, DC DOES cannot ensure that improperly paid UI benefits to these DC government employees were recovered.”

In 2013, DC DOES implemented a process to identify all city employees receiving unemployment benefits. But city officials say they cannot always stop the unemployment checks on time.

Instead, they do subsequent reviews and stop improper payments, then try to recover money that should not have been paid.

DC DOES developed a computer monitoring system that cross-matches city employees with unemployment lists, called a “watch dog report.” As of December 2013, there were 66 city employees collecting unemployment insurance benefits.

[cotton1706]

There is not an ounce of integrity in these people, and that's encouraged. They will all cover each other to keep the gravy train flowing. It's the same in all bureaucratic agencies. There are too many feeding at the trough to make any real changes.

[PGR88]

I lived in Washington DC for years. The city management is like Detroit, but with the Federal Gov’t as a big sugar daddy.

[hal ogen]

I “lived” in WDC for over 30 years. This is nothing new there. Every so often this situation is discovered. Those involved are usually either sent for “retraining” or quietly retired with benefits. Many government “workers” never work a second for their pay. Integrity and honesty are foreign to these degenerates.

[MIchaelTArchangel]

The DC unemployment people thought they were saving the price of a first class stamp with all those people walking in to pick up their checks.

[Mich Patriot]

Stories like this one have me convinced that we'll eventually have to burn it all down and rebuild...in other words...

[Liz]

UI IS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG ---THE CASH HAUL IS HUGE: prolly cashing multiple US govt checks under several identities in all off these categories:

UI, SSI, Workmen's Comp,

TANF (temporary assistance to needy families),

WICS (food assistance),

subsidized Section 8 shelter,

ObamaPhone subsidies,

Utility Assistance subsidies,

School breakfasts/lunches/snacks subsidies,

$5000 a year EITC checks per identity.

Not to mention falsifying EBT apps claiming "need"---buying non-food items w/ tax dollars.

Falsifying sub-prime mtg apps---flipping the houses among themselves for a big profit---then skipping town---leaving the banks holding the bag.

And on and on and on...ad infinitum, ad nauseaum.

[Organic Panic]

I wonder who they vote for....not.

[MasterGunner01]

Washington, DC accountability and responsibility = oxymoron. The whole political class there is corrupt to the core. Double dipping employees on unemployment, no problem! Everyone does it, right?

[B4Ranch]

Ebola will work without the big bang.

[Amagi]

Crime, Inc.