More Than 2.1M People Have Filed Unemployment Claims In Michigan

MICHIGAN — About 2.1 million people have applied for state and federal benefits in Michigan since March 15, with $11.4 billion in benefits being paid out, the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) announced Friday.

The large scale need for benefits stemmed primarily from the coronavirus, which prompted state officials to order the closure of non-essential businesses to prevent spread. As of Friday, 60,829 cases of the virus have been reported in Michigan, with over 5,800 deaths attributed to the virus. Michigan reported 211 new cases and 5 new deaths resulting from the coronavirus Friday.

“Our focus remains on getting 100% of eligible Michigan workers 100% of the benefits they deserve," UIA Director Steve Gray said. "We are using every available resource to verify the identity of legitimate claimants whose payments are held due to increased criminal activity, including 850 dedicated employees and newly formed advanced analytics team."

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The agency also announced that it has now cleared a majority of all accounts that were flagged for further identity verification due to criminal attacks, the department said in a news release. This includes the clearing of over 200,000 of the 340,000 active claims with claimants’ benefits resuming within days.

Over 100,000 of the 200,000 newly flagged claims were also cleared. In just the last week alone, the UIA has cleared a combined 150,000 active and new claims flagged for identity verification.

Paid Claims

Over 93 percent of people eligible for benefits and who filed for the have received or are approved for benefits. Of the remaining 7 percent of unpaid claimants, most are flagged for suspicion of impostor fraud. Currently, 100,000 unpaid claims are flagged as potentially fraudulent while 37,000 unpaid claims are held pending adjudication for other reasons, the UIA said in a news release.

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Clearing Legitimate Claims

State unemployment insurance systems across the country have been targeted by well-organized criminals using previously stolen or false personal information. The U.S. Secret Service issued a national alert in May regarding an international criminal ring and the Inspector General of U.S. Dept. of Labor has warned that the criminal activity during the pandemic could result in a “significant amount of fraud.”

In response, the Michigan launched an Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force, led by Attorney General Dana Nessel, to help identify, locate and prosecute criminals suspected of unemployment fraud. Working with law enforcement and fraud experts, the UIA developed additional fraud protections, including additional identification verification steps, with the agency placing a Stop Payment hold on more than 340,000 active accounts, the UIA announced.

With an additional 60,000 cleared active accounts announced Friday, coupled with more than 140,000 announced last week, the UIA has cleared more 200,000 active accounts suspected of fraud. The UIA continues to work through the remaining 140,000 active accounts to move eligible claimants back into benefits.

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But Michigan’s unemployment system, like other systems across the country, remains under attack. Over the last few weeks, tens of thousands of new claims filed are suspected of fraud, the UIA said.

The UIA has received over 58,000 reports of unemployment identity theft and fraud since March 15th, with more than 25,000 coming since June 1st. Over 90,000 of the more than 200,000 new claims flagged as potentially fraudulent have also been cleared, with around 110,000 remaining. No payments were previously sent to these new claims.

Working with fraud experts, forensic accountants and law enforcement, the agency said it is using data analytics and direct outreach to identify legitimate claimants and release benefits as quickly as possible.