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Lawmakers set oversight hearings on unemployment fraud mess

Posted at 7:57 PM, Feb 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-13 19:57:28-05

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan lawmakers are planning more oversight hearings to investigate how thousands of people receiving unemployment benefits were wrongly accused of fraud.

A bipartisan workgroup is also being assembled.

Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman Joseph Graves made the announcements Monday, a day before Democrats will unveil proposed fixes.

Graves’ panel will hear from the state auditor Thursday and question the embattled Unemployment Insurance Agency next week. He says the false accusations and a computer glitch that exposed workers’ personal information are “unacceptable.”

House hearings were held last year, before a review found a high error rate in cases adjudicated solely by computers.

The workgroup initially includes Graves, Democratic Rep. Kevin Hertel, an advocate for unemployment claimants, and officials from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Manufacturers Association.