Nearly 300 state employees erroneously received unemployment benefits totaling $6.7 million and averaging $23,700 per employee during the last two pandemic years.
The Georgia Office of the Inspector General identified the full time state employees who incorrectly received unemployment payments in 2020 and 2021. So far Inspector General Scott McAfee has interviewed about two dozen employees and said it will be difficult, if not impossible, for his office to interview all the state employees suspected of receiving erroneous payments.
He recommended the General Assembly, which begins work in a new session next week, pass legislation extending the time for prosecuting pandemic-related fraud to provide investigators more time.
While the Office of Inspector General has referred cases of erroneous unemployment payments to the state Attorney General’s office for prosecution, the agency conceded it doesn’t have the resources to investigate every case.
