About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (November 2, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govejgr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service nforming the legislitive debate since 1914 November 2, 2022 Unemployment Insurance Program Integrity: Recent Developments Program integrity activities are designed to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse of government resources. The federal- state Unemployment Insurance (UI) system has faced long- standing program integrity challenges. The enhanced UI benefits created by Congress in response to the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated program integrity concerns related to improper payments and fraud. Background: UI Programs and Benefits Under permanent law, the UI system has two components: * Unemployment Compensation (UC) programs in 53 states (including DC, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), which provide state-financed weekly UC benefits to eligible unemployed workers; and * the Extended Benefit (EB) program, which may provide additional weeks of unemployment benefits depending on state law, additional federal eligibility requirements, and state economic conditions. COVID-19 U Programs In response to unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress created three temporary, now-expired UI benefits through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P.L. 116-136). These benefits were extended through the Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act of 2020 (Division N, Title II, Subtitle A of P.L. 116-260) and Title IX, Subtitle A, of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA; P.L. 117-2): * Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), which supplemented weekly UI benefits (by $600 from March 29, 2020, through July 25, 2020; and $300 from December 27, 2020, through September 4, 2021). FPUC payments totaled $448.6 billion. * Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), which provided additional weeks of UI benefits for individuals who exhausted other UI benefits and were able to work, available for work, and actively seeking work, subject to COVID-19-related flexibilities. PEUC payments totaled $85.1 billion. * Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which provided UI benefits to individuals who were not otherwise eligible for UI benefits (e.g., self-employed, independent contractors, gig economy workers); unemployed, partially unemployed, or unable to work due to a specific COVID-19-related reason; and not able to telework and not receiving any paid leave. PUA payments totaled $131.2 billion. P.L. 116-260 also authorized a smaller COVID-19 UI benefit: Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC), which provided a $100 per week benefit augmentation for unemployed workers with income from both wage-and-salary jobs and self-employment who were not currently receiving PUA. MEUC totaled $62.9 million. Administration All UI programs and benefits (including temporary benefits) are administered by states with oversight provided by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). For more details on permanent-law UI benefits and expired COVID-19 UI benefits, see CRS Report R46687, Unemployment Insurance (UI) Benefits: Permanent-Law Programs and the COVID-19 Pandemic Response. UI Program Integrity An improper payment is any payment that should not have been made or was made in an incorrect amount under statutory, administrative, or other legally applicable requirements. This includes any payment to an ineligible recipient. Improper payments include both overpayments and underpayments. UI overpayments are identified when a state determines that the individual received a payment, or a portion of a payment, to which the individual is not entitled. Fraud-a subset of overpayments-is defined under each state's UC laws, and, thus, what constitutes fraud varies from state to state. In general, fraud involves a knowing and willful act or concealment of material facts to obtain or increase benefits. Fraud determinations often include identifying a pattern of action or the claimant's certification of erroneous information under the penalty of perjury. Regular UC benefits do not employ one federal definition of fraud, yet several of the COVID-19 UI benefits did include statutory language related to fraud. U Program Integrity Challenges Program integrity issues related to permanent-law UI programs have long been of concern. The improper payment estimate for the UI system has been above 10% for 14 of the past 18 years. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) continues to designate UI as a high- priority program (i.e., a program with estimated improper payments of more than $100 million a year). The COVID- 19 UI benefits heightened program integrity concerns. According to the most recent estimate, the UI improper payment rate for FY2021 was 17.9%, with a total of $73.8 billion in improper payments. (This estimate includes UC, EB, FPUC, and PEUC benefits.) Recent UI program integrity challenges can be grouped into three categories. First, there are preexisting, administrative 0

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most