LANSING, Mich. — Rep. Steve Johnson (R–Wayland) led a House Oversight Committee hearing Tuesday on issues regarding Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Representative Johnson’s office.
“This is something that’s been plaguing our state for the last year and a half,” says Representative Johnson. “What we heard today was that there’s been a lot of confusion in dealing with the agency. This consistent confusion is a sign of an agency that is not serving the people of Michigan as efficiently and effectively as it can.”
We’re told a Michigan Poverty Law Program attorney stated that a number of her clients had not been paid unemployment benefits months after filing.
Johnson’s office adds the committee listened to testimony from those who were asked to rectify for federal pandemic unemployment assistance.
“We will continue our examination of UIA as there has been a clear pattern of mismanagement, incompetence and fraud,” says Johnson. “The fact that a state agency is causing this many people around the state this amount of stress and hardship is simply unacceptable.”