LANSING, MI (AP)-- Michigan’s acting unemployment director has told lawmakers that her office is trying to strike a balance between quickly paying benefits to jobless workers and preventing fraud.
Liza Estlund Olson said Wednesday that impostor claims are rampant in a backlog of approximately 90,000 cases.
Olson took over the Unemployment Insurance Agency less than a month ago after the previous chief, Steve Gray, fell out of favor with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The agency last week released an independent report showing how, faced with an unprecedented deluge of claims during the coronavirus lockdown last spring, it made policy, technological and organizational changes that increased exposure to fraud.
