Legislative Audit Hearing on DWD and the Unemployment Mess
This week we learned more about the Legislative Audit Bureau’s nonpartisan audit of the Unemployment Insurance processing problems at the Department of Workforce Development (DWD).
Here are some of the main findings:
- DWD put 77.6 percent of individuals into adjudication on their initial UI claim to the state.
- As of October 10, 2020, there were 96,623 individuals with claims in adjudication.
- DWD was responsible for 11 of the 13 weeks (84.6 percent) that it took, on average, to resolve the initial claims of the random sample of 250 individuals.
- The most-common issues that accounted for time elapsing involved instances when DWD had not resolved issues even though it had the information to do so and because it had not requested information it needed from individuals and employers.
Governor Evers and his administration have failed the tens of thousands of Wisconsinites who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. The latest audit gives the public a revealing look at the disastrous mismanagement in processing Unemployment Insurance claims. Many people have yet to receive their money and are waiting for the administration and DWD officials to get their act together.
DWD should have immediately extended call center hours, transferred state employees to assist as allowed by April’s COVID relief legislation or even required employees to work overtime. The lack of urgency to help the unemployed is inexcusable and unconscionable.
The Joint Legislative Committee on Audit held a hearing to review the recent audits of DWD. You can watch the committee proceedings on Wisconsin Eye.
Assembly Republicans have proposed legislation to require the elimination of the backlog within 30 days, an increase in call center hours to 12 hours per day, 7 days per week, and a reduction of the salaries of DWD bureaucrats if these issues don’t get resolved.