Connecticut’s labor watchdog says it pinched more than 5,000 fake unemployed last year to recover $4.6 million in fraudulent unemployment payments and expects to nearly double that sum this year.
The Connecticut Department of Labor said Thursday it attached scofflaws’ state and IRS tax refunds, and tapped the state agency overseeing welfare payments, to collect any sums not voluntarily repaid by violators.
State Labor Commissioner Sharon Palmer said the $4.6 million was double what the state recovered from unemployment cheats in 2011.
“No one wants to see individuals or employers taking advantage of our unemployment system,” Palmer said in a statement. “Nationally, Connecticut has one of the best performance records when it comes to minimizing the number of unemployment insurance overpayments, but we are making it a top priority to implement new tools and technology to improve upon our successes.”
Palmer said the state’s fledgling tax intercept program is expected to recover as much as $8 million for taxpayers in fiscal 2013.
