The Louisiana state government reportedly sent over $1 million worth of unemployment benefits to people who have died, a new audit found.
The 5,075 total payments, some preventable and some not, went out to 374 deceased people between March 2020 and April 2021, according to a June 16 audit conducted by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, which decided to put the report together due to requests from legislators and the public.
There were “1,504 payments totaling $337,007 to 76 individuals that should have been prevented under [Louisiana Workforce Commission’s] current death data match process” and “574 payments totaling $123,194 to 116 individuals that could have been prevented if [the Louisiana Workforce Commission] performed its death data match weekly instead of monthly,” state auditor Mike Waguespack wrote in the report.
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At least 334 people received a total of $629,091. The payments to those people were unpreventable because the payments were sent out before the Louisiana Department of Health received death certificates for the recipients.
During the pandemic, the Pelican State’s government paid unemployed citizens approximately $8.57 billion through a combination of state and federal programs, according to the report.
In May 2020, one claimant used the identity of a resident who died in 2010 to claim $8,998 in benefits, the audit found, which suggested that the Louisiana Workforce Commission can “attempt to recover the potentially improper payments.”
Auditors made two recommendations to diminish the future possibility that the government will send checks to deceased residents.
The first recommendation is for the commission to perform data matches on a weekly, rather than monthly, basis to ensure the Health Department has not received a death certificate for a claimant. The second recommendation is for the commission to continue to investigate the improper payments and recoup the money the deceased received from the state.
The commission has agreed to both recommendations and is working through the cases of overpayments and fraud. If the recipient agrees to give the money back, the matter is closed.
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If the recipient does not agree, the government can collect it through state or federal taxes.
