One of the results of the merger of two state departments will be a dramatic reduction in the time required to detect fraudulent unemployment compensation claims.

The Ohio Bureau of Employment Services and the Ohio Department of Human Services were merged July 1, creating the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Implementation of the New Hire Cross Match System this month gave Unemployment Compensation staff (formerly OBES) daily access to new-hire information primarily intended to detect cases of delinquent child support (formerly ODHS). That meant detecting fraudulent claims for unemployment compensation, a process which previously could take months, was cut to three days.

"It's just one more way of showing the merger made good sense," said Jacqueline Romer-Sensky, ODJFS director. "Decreasing the time to detect possible fraud will help reduce the number of benefit overpayments. That could save millions of dollars each year for Ohio's Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, which is supported by payroll taxes from Ohio employers. That, in turn, can help keep Ohio employers' unemployment tax rates down."

Ohio employers must report new hires within 20 days of the hire date. The information comprises Ohio's New Hire Registry. The ODJFS system daily compares information from the Registry with all unemployment compensation benefit recipients, identifying individuals who have returned to work but continue to receive unemployment compensation.

That means ODJFS staff can detect improper unemployment compensation benefit payments within three days of employers reporting new hires -- much more quickly than the previous quarterly match, which accounted for nearly 80 percent of fraud identification but which could take up to five months.

The federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 required each state to compile data about new employees from employers.

In addition to the New Hire Cross Match, ODJFS will continue to use other computer cross matches to detect and prevent unemployment compensation fraud. Individuals identified as committing possible fraud by any of the agency's cross match systems are referred to the ODJFS Benefit Payment Control Section for investigation. ODJFS investigates all reports from employers and concerned citizens about unemployment compensation fraud.

"By detecting the fraudulent payments sooner, we expect the dollar amounts of overpayments to decrease," said Melissa DeLisio, deputy director, ODJFS Office of Unemployment Compensation. "People claiming unemployment will eventually realize they can't file false claims for unemployment benefits, and if they do, they will be caught."

Last year, the state detected nearly $10 million of fraudulent unemployment compensation benefits which are now in collection. More than 700 cases of unemployment compensation fraud are pending in Ohio courts.

- 30 -

For more information, contact Jon Allen, ODJFS Communications, (614) 466-6650.