ATLANTA — Hundreds of Georgia state employees received millions in unemployment payments - even as they were fully employed - in the midst of the pandemic, according to findings by the state inspector general.
A letter sent Wednesday from the Georgia Office of the Inspector General to Gov. Brian Kemp outlines the findings of an audit into unemployment insurance fraud.
According to the findings by Inspector General Scott McAfee, at least 280 full-time employees received $6.7 million in unemployment payments in 2020 and 2021, an average of $23,700 per employee.
The letter also notes these findings represent a "conservative estimate." The $6.7 million figure does not include people who received less than $1,000, were only part-time employees, have since left their employment with the state or who received their benefits via debit card rather than direct electronic bank transfer.
Some of the cases highlighted by the inspector general's letter include a Georgia Department of Labor employee who was tasked with examining unemployment claims, and who received more than $30,000 through a fraudulent unemployment account they maintained from inside the DOL.
A Georgia Department of Transportation area manager also received nearly $40,000, and a Department of Revenue tax examiner received more than $19,000 even as he was employed by the DOR's Office of Special Investigations.
In one other instance, three Department of Corrections employees filed their unemployment claims while on-duty in state offices.
"These examples provide a glimpse into the scope and scale of this issue, and each has been referred to the Office of the Attorney General’s Prosecution Division," the letter states.
Roughly two dozen state employees were interviewed as part of the audit, according to the letter, "nearly all" of whom have now been fired.
The Office of Inspector General notes it faces an "uphill, if not impossible, task" of interviewing the other 250+ employees found to have received payments. The letter asks the Georgia General Assembly to "explore legislation that extends the statute of limitations for prosecuting pandemic-related fraud" with the office asking for more time "to sort through the mountain of cases and uncover those who defrauded our governmental programs."
It also asks the General Assembly to "pass legislation that grants OIG administrative subpoena authority" so that it can "obtain financial documents and other governmental records independently and efficiently," which it says it is currently unable to do.
"If granted statutory authorization to issue administrative subpoenas, OIG would have been able to start this project in mid-2021 rather than face over a year of delay in obtaining the necessary data," the letter states.
11Alive has reached out to the Governor's Office for a response to the letter.