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Kansas Unemployment

January 18th, 2007 Posted by Amelia

A recent U.S. Dept. of Labor report shows that fraud in Kansas unemployment payments is down, but not out.

The operational fraud rate for Kansas registered at 3.62 percent according to the report. The national fraud rate is 5.31 percent. Ranking states from highest to lowest, Kansas ranks 37th of 52 agencies in fraudulent overpayments.

Although the rate of actual fraud was low at just over 3%, the study reveals that almost half of workers on Kansas unemployment are overpaid. The report shows the overall state overpayment rate as 44.72 percent. That’s because, according to the survey, 41.58 percent of those applying for Kansas unemployment don’t bother to register with a Kansas Workforce Center, as required by law. The survey discounted that 41.58% of overpayments as “technical in nature.”

The information is based on a study the U.S. Department of Labor has released that examines unemployment payments across the country. Each year, the U.S. Department of Labor assesses the accuracy of UI claims in each state for evidence of unfairness and fraud.

The report is compiled based on a review of a small sample of unemployment claims from each state. The sample is carefully examined to determine how accurately each state makes decisions to pay or deny claims for unemployment benefits.

Part of this annual Benefit Accuracy Measurement report includes a measurement of overpayments for each state.

Kansas law requires all unemployment claimants to register for work with a Kansas Workforce Center. Many claimants have difficulty completing this process due to declining access to Workforce Centers across the state and a cumbersome online registration process. To ensure services for those most in need of help, the Kansas Dept. of Labor follows a U. S. Dept. of Labor identification process that tags those individuals, most likely to exhaust unemployment benefits and most in need of job placement services.