SC’s target date to roll out federal unemployment benefits is Tuesday. Will it be ready?
As the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce faces down a self-imposed target date of Tuesday to implement a new federal unemployment benefits program, thousands of South Carolinians waiting for relief from the agency wonder what is taking so long.
They are waiting on three weeks of $300 payments, retroactive to Aug. 1. and courtesy of a Federal Emergency Management Agency program. The payments are only for those eligible to receive at least $100 in state or federal unemployment benefits each week.
Although it is unclear how many people are eligible for the payments, nearly 153,000 people were unemployed in August, and nearly 740,000 initial claims for unemployment insurance have been filed since mid-March.
In a press release late Friday afternoon, the state shed some light on a possible reason it is taking so long. But some say it’s an excuse for the state to drag their feet.
The department announced Friday that it would add “fraud security measures,” including new identification verification questions, fraud analysts and an exchange of information about fraud schemes with other labor agencies around the country.
They said in the Friday announcement they are still on schedule to roll out the program within the Sept. 22 timeline. As of Tuesday morning, a note stating that the Lost Wages Assistance program was still being programmed into the benefits portal remained on the DEW website.
“We want to be very clear; there are individuals and groups who are intentionally seeking an illegal opportunity to profit from these LWA funds, directly stealing money from deserving, unemployed South Carolinians in need,” DEW executive director Dan Ellzey said in the release. “Some states who have already implemented LWA programs are experiencing this type of fraud, on significant levels in some cases.”
In California and other states, people have taken advantage of the pandemic unemployment assistance federal program — designed to support freelancers, part-time workers and others not eligible for state unemployment benefits — by filing illegitimate claims. The New York Times reported that the fraud is making it more difficult for state officials to assess the real number of unemployed people in each state.
“The self-certification provision allowed anyone to claim benefits and not have to prove eligibility,” the press release stated. “Coupled with the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation $600 per week, this was all the incentive needed by organized crime.”
In response to questions from the Island Packet regarding whether the fraud prevention efforts would delay the rollout of the Lost Wages Assistance program and whether the program would be launched Tuesday as the timeline would suggest, DEW deputy assistant executive director Brian Urban said DEW is working to make sure they are in a good position to prevent and detect fraud, especially given the state’s financially liability to FEMA for any fraudulently paid LWA payments. Other federal unemployment programs, he noted, haven’t had this requirement, and any potential refunds cannot be paid out of the state unemployment insurance trust fund, but rather from the state’s budget.
He did not answer the Island Packet questions regarding the LWA timeline.
For many of those awaiting benefits, concerns about fraud are not paramount.
Jesse Tribbey, of Elgin, has been unemployed twice in several years due to layoffs. He said he is confused by the concern with fraud because the people eligible for unemployment certified as unemployed more than a month ago.
“Maybe they are trying to find if people are working now,” he said. “To me it sounds to me like an excuse to cause a delay … Because if they qualified then, they should still qualify now.”
Tribbey said he had already been frustrated when South Carolina didn’t immediately apply for the $300 weekly benefits from FEMA, known as the Lost Wages Assistance program. LWA is a grant, and once the money runs out, the program is done. South Carolina has been approved for only three weeks of the program thus far, while others have already finished their six weeks.
South Carolina has applied for an additional three weeks, but has not been approved as of late.
“Nine hundred dollars is better than nothing,” Tribbey said. “But it’s nothing if you don’t get it.”
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 3:04 PM.
