Failures of the State

The COVID-19 crisis and related economic shutdown has highlighted a number of failures of the state Employment Security Department.

These failures in unemployment systems and department procedures resulted in managers being unable to meet basic levels of service and failing to pay benefits in a timely fashion when the number of claims increased.

ESD systems were overwhelmed, allowing Nigerian scammers and other individuals to steal at least $350 million in benefits from state taxpayers. Meanwhile, legitimate claimants were unable to contact staff or experienced long delays when making unemploy...