State Representative Rod Hamilton (R-Mountain Lake), who is the Republican Lead of the Minnesota House Workforce and Business Development Policy and Finance Committee, issued the following statement after a legislative auditor's report found Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has done little to refer unemployment insurance (UI) fraud cases to law enforcement.
“I find it very troubling that in one month alone, DEED suspended payments on 2,500 unemployment insurance accounts. Yet over the past few years, DEED only referred two dozen cases to law enforcement. Fraud is a crime and DEED should treat it as such in every instance where an imposter is trying to scam the system. Its clear lawmakers need to review how DEED is handling fraud within the UI program to make sure criminals are being punished and taxpayer dollars are being protected.”