Del. Auditor Announces Creation Of National Unemployment Insurance Audit Template

Early in the pandemic, when jobs were lost by the millions and unemployment benefits were enhanced, the door to potential fraud was opened.

Now, a group of state auditors, including Delaware’s Kathy McGuiness, want to determine the extent of the problem and develop proposed solutions.

McGuiness recently told WGMD News that a national unemployment insurance audit template has been developed to serve as a framework so Delaware and several other states can more easily identify issues and recommend ‘best practices.’

“When you were having extra money and people were losing their jobs, or businesses were having issues with the pandemic and the unemployment system was seeing a huge influx of people filing for benefits, you knew there was going to be an issue,” McGuiness said.

Labor departments were also impacted by previous budget cuts and aging, inefficient systems.

Delaware worked with the Office of the D.C. Auditor, D.C. Office of Inspector General, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office and the Idaho Legislative Audit Division to create a uniform framework.

“Many states have already painted a detailed picture of the fraud that targeted their unemployment insurance system,” McGuiness added. “Our goal is to incite broader participation so as to paint an overarching picture of the vulnerabilities that exist in unemployment insurance systems throughout the country.”

“The surge of claims resulted in vulnerabilities surfacing in each and every state’s unemployment insurance system,” McGuiness said. “Identifying and understanding existing vulnerabilities allows us to reduce fraud, waste and abuse and improve unemployment systems to better serve the public.”