Coronavirus / Unemployment Insurance Fraud

As you may know from news reports, there has been a significant increase in fraudulent unemployment insurance claims filed over the past couple of months. In this scheme,  false claims are filed in the names of current employees, in hope of receiving unemployment benefits from the state.  Employees may be unaware that a  claim was filed in their name, unless they receive paperwork from the state. When claims are received for employees who are still active and working, please confirm the validity of the claim with the employee.  Employees should also be advised to forward to you any communication they  receive from the  Department of Labor about claims they did not file.  Our office is in daily contact with fraud investigators in various states, as well as investigators from the Federal Office of the Inspector General, to ensure that these improper claims are cancelled without penalty to the employees.  Acting quickly in these matters will save any unwarranted UI charges and save the employee the trouble of having to deal with this inappropriate income when dealing with their personal income tax returns next year.