LANSING, Mich. — The former director of Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency got more than $85,000 when he resigned on Nov. 5.
Documents from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity show Steve Gray was paid $85,872.56 to cover Nov. 6, 2020 through June 1, 2021.
It’s all part of a signed separation agreement with the state.
Both parties agreed they will not make any statements or bash the reputation of the other.
State Representative Matt Hall questioned Gray several times in the past about the agency and thinks the payment amounts to "hush money."
"We thought we knew the whole story once," said Hall, "and then that report came out showing they disabled fraud detection tools costing hundreds of millions of dollars to taxpayers in fraudulent payments to criminals. Now, with this hush agreement, it sure looks like there's a lot more here, and I think people deserve answers because so many people have been failed by this system, and for me as a policymaker, I need to know what we need to do to hold them accountable."
We have reached out to the governor’s office for comment on this agreement asking if it’s “hush money” but have yet to hear back.
