COVID-19: ETA Needs a Plan to Reconcile and Return to the U.S. Treasury Nearly $5 Billion Unused by States for a Temporary Unemployment Insurance Program

Submitting OIG:

Department of Labor OIG

Date Issued:

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Agency Reviewed / Investigated:

Department of Labor

Submitting OIG-Specific Report Number:

19-23-015-03-315

Location(s):

Agency-Wide

Type of Report:

Audit

Special Projects:

Pandemic

Questioned Costs:

$105,100,000

Funds for Better Use:

$4,900,000,000

Number of Recommendations:

Report updated under NDAA 5274:

View Document:

Attachment	Size
19-23-015-03-315.pdf	2.09 MB

Additional Details Link:

https://www.oig.dol.gov/public/reports/oa/2023/19-23-015-03-315.pdf

Recommendation Number	Recommendation Status	Significant Recommendation
1	Open	Yes
We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training work with Oregon, Louisiana, Delaware, and Mississippi to ensure the appropriate return of approximately $105.1 million in TFFF reimbursements for first-week regular UI compensation paid that were associated with ineligible weeks.
2	Open	Yes
We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training establish a deadline by which states are required to perform a timely review of past drawdowns and provide evidence that drawdowns were for reimbursement of eligible first-week regular UI compensation paid by the state for claim weeks that fell within the TFFF program period.
3	Open	Yes
We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training reassess the eligibility of all states with waiting week provisions according to their state laws to ensure that the waiting week was not in effect when states accessed TFFF funds prior to December 31, 2020.
4	Open	Yes
We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training ensure that any state drawdowns of the remaining almost $5 billion ($4,948,811,006) in TFFF funds are only for the reimbursement of first-week regular UI compensation paid by the state that fall within the TFFF program period (March 27, 2020, through September 6, 2021).
6	Open	Yes
We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training establish written procedures and deadlines for the timely return of funding for TFFF and future similar programs and consult with OMB and Treasury officials to execute the proper return of unused funds that remain within states’ accounts.
7	Open	Yes
We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training capture lessons learned from the TFFF program and use the information to develop effective internal control procedures to ensure states meet program requirements, including eligibility, and have sufficient infrastructure in place to pay claimants’ UI benefits without delay for similar temporary emergency UI programs that may be established in the future.
8	Open	Yes
We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training capture lessons learned from the TFFF program and use the information to develop and implement controls to ensure the methodology and procedures are documented and maintained for estimating allotments and subsequent adjustments for similar temporary emergency UI programs that may be established in the future.

Recommendation Number

Recommendation Status

Significant Recommendation

Additional Details

Open

Yes

We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training work with Oregon, Louisiana, Delaware, and Mississippi to ensure the appropriate return of approximately $105.1 million in TFFF reimbursements for first-week regular UI compensation paid that were associated with ineligible weeks.

Open

Yes

We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training establish a deadline by which states are required to perform a timely review of past drawdowns and provide evidence that drawdowns were for reimbursement of eligible first-week regular UI compensation paid by the state for claim weeks that fell within the TFFF program period.

Open

Yes