The pandemic rages on, and unemployment remains an economic lifeblood for hundreds of thousands in Wisconsin. Yet, unemployment has also been a dangerous option for some time now, because the Department considers any claim-filing mistake to be fraudulent. When a … Continue reading
The push to charge concealment/fraud for mistakes when filing for unemployment is not just happening in Wisconsin. It is a national phenomena. Here are descriptions about what is happening in two other states. Pennsylvania In Fugh v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. … Continue reading
The Department of Workforce Development has issued a new directive about the new definition of unemployment concealment set forth in 2015 Wis. Act 334. As noted already, the new concealment definition makes claimants strictly liable for their mistakes and places … Continue reading
As noted in February of this year, concealment cases jumped to 2.79% of all unemployment benefits paid out. For the three previous years, concealment cases had always been under 2% of all unemployment benefits paid. NOTE: a 0.8% increase is … Continue reading
The official Advisory Council/DWD bill, AB819, passed the Assembly yesterday and is now ready for the Senate to take up (as reported previously, both the Assembly and the Senate had committee hearings on their respective versions of the DWD-UI bill; … Continue reading
The official Advisory Council/DWD bill, AB819, had its first public hearing on Thursday, February 4th, before the Assembly Committee on Jobs and the Economy. The Department of Workforce Development and the Advisory Council presented testimony in support of this bill. … Continue reading
Insiders in the Department of Workforce Development tell me that in December 2015 the Department began tracking people who file on-line by their IP address. Because IP addresses identity the country from where a person connects to the Internet, the … Continue reading
The District One Appeals Court issued a decision today in DWD v. LIRC (called Wallemkamp, after the claimant at issue in the case, Appeal No. 2015-AP-716, affirming the Labor and Industry Review Commission’s requirement that unemployment concealment be an intentional … Continue reading
At the request of an Advisory Council member, the Department released a memorandum explaining the third sub-section of its proposed new concealment law. This concealment proposal was previously described in this post, and a general review of concealment can be … Continue reading
While a new definition of concealment is pending, Wisconsin’s Dep’t of Justice announced on December 15th an “expanded effort to prosecute Unemployment Insurance fraud cases.” The press release accompanying this announcement states: An expanded effort to prosecute Unemployment Insurance fraud … Continue reading
Wisconsin Unemployment 