Over $1 Million in Unemployment Paid to Dead People in Louisiana
Louisiana Legislative Auditor findings indicate over $1 million in state and federal unemployment benefits were paid out to dead people.
It's a relatively small number when you think that the Louisiana Workforce Commission paid out $8.57 billion in unemployment benefits between March 2020 and April 2021, but it also begs the question, could this have been prevented?
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor broke down the payments and if they could've been prevented:
- $629,091 could not have been prevented
- $337,007 should have been prevented by LWC’s current controls
- $123,194 could have been prevented if LWC conducted a weekly match with the Louisiana Department of Health’s death data instead of a monthly match
The audit states the Louisiana Workforce Commission can attempt to recover all of the payments to deceased Louisiana residents.
We also reported earlier this year that a Legislative Auditor found the state had paid out over $6.2 million in unemployment benefits to 1,195 inmates in prison. Also in that same report, they found the LWC paid out over $405 million to state residents who were ineligible for unemployment benefits.
It seems to me that the Louisiana Workforce Commission needs to take a look at their procedures and make some serious adjustments. They're just wasting away our tax money and keep making huge mistakes.