Braun signs executive orders to squelch unemployment fraud, help job-seekers

Yahoo

27-02-2025

Gov. Mike Braun signs a pair of executive orders dealing with unemployment insurance in his Statehouse office on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun on Thursday sought to remind Hoosiers that the state's unemployment system provides only temporary help as he signed executive orders to step up anti-fraud efforts and work-search requirements.
'Our state is one that believes in the dignity and importance of work,' he told reporters assembled in his Statehouse office. 'Unemployment insurance is an important temporary safety net, but it should be exactly that: temporary assistance while searching for a new job.'
Indiana workers who become unemployed through no fault of their own can claim unemployment insurance for up to 26 weeks, as long as they complete two 'work search activities' weekly. Claimants get paid about 47% of their pre-layoff income, up to a statutory cap of $390 per week. It's funded by employer contributions.
The executive order directs the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) 'to take all necessary steps to require recipients, when appropriate, to conduct additional, diligent and meaningful work search activities each week.'
The program paid out about $285 million annually, on average, in the five years between 2015 and 2019, according to a 2021 DWD slide deck. Payouts totaled $6.7 billion in 2020 and were estimated at $4.5 billion in 2021 — the large jump was due to the pandemic. The agency didn't immediately respond to a request for recent data.
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Braun said Indiana had paid out about $55 million in fraudulent claims over the last three years — money that Governor's Office spokeswoman Molly Craft said the state was working on recovering.
'We want to protect the integrity of our unemployment program and the taxpayer dollars that fund it by requiring greater accountability,' Braun intoned.
His freshly inked executive order requires the department to verify applicant eligibility using state and federal new hire directories, plus cross-check eligibility with data in state and federal incarceration records, state death records and the multi-state Integrity Data Hub.
It also directs the department to further investigate when multiple claims are filed from the same device using a similar mailing address or bank account, and to double-check claims from out-of-state applicants before approving and paying them out. The department must send Braun written progress reports every quarter.
Braun acknowledged that Indiana suffers less fraud than others, but aimed to be 'the best.' Department of Workforce Development Chief of Staff Joshua Richardson told a legislative committee last month that Indiana is fourth-best for improper payments.
'I think most states are in the unenviable position of having a lot more issues than we do,' Braun told reporters. 'This is to make sure we don't slide in that direction.'
He said the money saved in improper payments would outweigh the costs associated with the data checks.
'It would be very little in comparison … That's $15-20 million per year, and it'll be a small cost for any technology we need to use compared to the benefits,' he said.
Braun said he hoped to 'promote a culture of work' through his other executive order.
It commands the Department of Workforce Development to reach out to applicants within a week of enrollment and make recipients complete more, and more 'meaningful' work search activities.
'In the modern economy, everyone's job search looks a little different,' Braun said. 'DWD will now move away from one-size-fits-all solutions and instead take steps to enable individualized job search plans and goals, and then to hold individuals accountable to those plans.'
The order additionally directs the department to review which states do best at reemployment and study their best practices for initial contact with applicants, reemployment plans, job search activities and more.
And the department must ratchet up its routine audits of work search activities and focus on those most likely to exhaust benefits — by evaluating the 'common factors' that lead recipients to collect 14 or more weeks of vouchers and that lead the same recipients to seek benefits multiple times within a four-year window.
Indiana lawmakers contemplate slashing unemployment insurance timespan
'This executive order also identifies unemployment recipients who are at the highest risk of exhausting their benefits and tailors reemployment services to support them in finding work,' Braun said. 'We want to turn the 'safety net' into a springboard to gain full employment.'
That 14-week window appeared in now-dead legislation filed this session.
Senate Bill 123 would've slashed the 26-week maximum to 14 weeks, but offer a two-week extension if claimants are making progress in an approved job training program and are actively job-hunting. It got a committee hearing — featuring bipartisan criticism — but didn't get a vote.
The department's Richardson told the committee that Indiana's unemployment insurance system already serves a smaller share of unemployed people than other states — theorizing it's the high eligibility standards or just that Hoosiers choose not to apply — and said the low pay encourages claimants to get back to work quickly.
Richardson also said the fund that pays out claims is healthy, leading lawmakers to question why the legislation was necessary.
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