State Seeks to Repayment of Unemployment Fraud
Author: Joseph De Avila</br></br>The New York State Department of Labor sent notices on Thursday to 80,590 New Yorkers who allegedly committed unemployment fraud and ordered them to repay their debt, or risk having their federal income-tax returns garnished.</br></br>The 80,590 New Yorkers who allegedly received unemployment illegally collectively owe the state $140.7 million. This marks the first year New York is able to recoup illegally collected unemployment benefits from federal tax refunds under a new federal law passed in 2008.</br></br>"We want to make sure we collect every dollar in our trust fund to give out benefits," said New York's Labor Commissioner Colleen C. Gardner. The New York State Unemployment Insurance Fund currently faces a $3.1 billion deficit, she said.</br></br>Last month about 564,000 people including out-of-state claimants were receiving unemployment insurance, according to the Labor Department.