Lawmakers Eye Tougher Penalties for Unemployment Fraud | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: This post, by Matt Willoughby, was originally published in the Economy section of Civitas's online edition.

    RALEIGH     Some state legislators point to a case in Scotland County that cost a businessman thousands of dollars and affected his firm's unemployment credit rating as a prime example of why the penalty for unemployment fraud should be increased from a misdemeanor to a felony.

    In 2011 Gerri Clark, 41, was charged with over 90 counts of unemployment fraud dating back to 2009. Under state law, she could only be charged with a misdemeanor; according to the Scotland County Court Clerk she pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor on July 13, 2011 in a Scotland County court.

    Clark was working for a staffing company at the time and used the company's information to file for unemployment benefits for her husband and other relatives. Her boss, Jerry Norton, said she continued using company information to file for benefits after she left the firm. Norton said the case cost him $9,300 and affected the company's unemployment credit rating.

    Clark was placed on probation for 60 months. Although she was accused of stealing more than $100,000, court records show the court ordered her to pay back just over $17,000 -- and she had five years to pay it. Scotland County Assistant District Attorney Brandon Christian said that in early 2012, it was discovered that Clark's husband and others didn't know she was using their names to file for benefits. Therefore, she was then charged with identity theft and obtaining property under false pretense, both of which are felonies. A court date is set for May 8.

    "I would certainly love for them (the General Assembly) to make employment security fraud a felony," Christian said. "Give us more tools to combat it."

    He also noted that other types of fraud, such as Medicaid and food stamp fraud, become felonies even if the amount involved is relatively low.

    A task force formed by House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) may draft legislation to make unemployment fraud a felony.

    According to U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) documents, in 2010 there were more than 4,700 reports from the state Employment Security Commission of unemployment fraud amounting to more than $11 million. However, only 3 percent of those cases were referred by commission investigators for prosecution, leading to only 198 convictions. At the end of 2010, more than $18.7 million in stolen benefits had not been recovered.

    That number grows even larger when considering the cases the commission labeled as non-fraud overpayments, generally regarded as mistakes. There were over 102,000 of those cases filed in 2010, totaling nearly $70 million. By the end of that year, $45.5 million of such overpayments were still outstanding. The USDOL, however, tends to believe that the real number is in fact much higher, and the department gives the state a very low rating for recovering overpayments.

    Part of that reasoning is that the state writes off the first four weeks of unemployment benefits when calculating overpayments. That is something else the task force intends to consider changing. Division of Employment Security spokesman Larry Parker says it is not a waiver but it would tie up the courts to prosecute everyone over four weeks of benefits. He says, however, the division would require repayment if there was fraud at any amount.

    The legislature made the Employment Security Commission a division of the Commerce Department and House Speaker Tillis has said he would like to see the division be more aggressive in recovering overpayments.
Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




Our Blue Albatross Civitas Institute, Editorials, Op-Ed & Politics "Due Process Guarantee Act of 2011"


HbAD0

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

amnesty would just encourage more illegal aliens to storm our borders
The Christmas candy was barely off the shelves when the Valentine’s candy appeared. Red and pink hearts with caramel and nut-filled chocolate goodness caught our eye. We are reminded of how we love love. Young love, especially.
far left sugar daddy has also funded anti-Israel groups and politicians in US
Be careful what you wish for, you may get it
America needs to wake up and get its priorities right
Former President Donald Trump suggested this week that if he becomes president again, he might allow Prince Harry to be deported.
It's a New Year, which means it's time to make resolutions — even for prominent evangelical leaders. The Babylon Bee asked the following well-known figures in the faith what they hope to accomplish in 2024:
Vice President Kamala Harris will visit a Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic, reportedly the first time a president or vice president has visited an abortion facility.
An eight-mile stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville has been temporarily closed due to a string of “human and bear interactions,” the National Parks Service announced.

HbAD1

University of Wisconsin tried to punish conservatives for the fact that liberals regularly commit crimes to silence opposition
most voters think EU officials not doing a good job on illegal immigration
Come from behind by GOP candidate is a blueprint to 2024
Biden spending and energy policies to blame
Tuberculosis carried by illegal invaders has already infected Texas cattle
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said this week that the only campaign promise President Joe Biden has delivered on as president is the complete dismantling of the U.S. southern border.
Hamas is reeling after losing two of their most cherished leaders on the same day: military commander Saleh al-Arouri, and Harvard President Claudine Gay.
President Joe Biden’s brother told the Internal Revenue Service that Hunter Biden told him he was in business with a “protege of President Xi,” referring to the leader of China, according to notes by an IRS investigator that were divulged during a congressional interview of Jim Biden.

HbAD2

 
Back to Top