Pugh: State is Failing to Meet Federal Program Integrity Measures for Unemployment Compensation

March 18, 2025

HARRISBURG - Rep. Brenda Pugh (R-Luzerne) is looking for answers and solutions as to why the state Department of Labor and Industry is not meeting the minimum program integrity standards for the detection and prevention of fraud, waste and abuse in unemployment compensation – as set by the federal Department of Labor (USDOL).

“Now, more than ever, there is a spotlight on efficiency when it comes to our state and federal governments,” Pugh said. “I am not for bigger government, but I must ask – what is going wrong in that our state is not meeting the federal program integrity benchmarks for unemployment compensation?”

The federal government has set minimum requirements for overpayment detection and recovery to provide a benchmark for state unemployment program performance. According to program integrity measures set by USDOL, states should be able to detect 50% of unemployment compensation overpayments issued and have a 68% recovery rate for those overpayments. Pennsylvania failed to meet the minimum percentages for each category, achieving 33.61% for overpayment detection and 39.9% for overpayment recovery. The most recent federal scorecard published by USDOL reviewed the period from October 2023 through September 2024.

All states are required to report overpayment and recovery information on a continual basis to USDOL. An overpay is any payment of unemployment benefits that a claimant is not entitled to receive. Overpayments can be the result of an honest mistake, an error on the claimant’s part or they can occur as the result of fraud.

“I look forward to working with my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, to come up with commonsense legislative solutions and tools so that our state will be able to meet and exceed the federal minimum integrity standards. Widespread unemployment fraud and Pennsylvania’s ongoing failure to meet bare minimum program integrity standards must come to an end.”

Representative Brenda Pugh
120th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Melissa Fox
717.260.6522
mefox@pahousegop.com
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