Auditors say NYS mistakenly paid unemployment to deceased people
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York auditors say the state mistakenly authorized nearly $3 million in unemployment payments for people who were dead, employed, out of the country, not authorized to work in the U.S. or had exceeded their benefits.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says $1.9 million was prevented from actually being paid, while the state Labor Department should pursue recovery of $1.1 million.
Labor officials say they have increased fraud-fighting measures by funding five positions in the comptroller's office to ensure overpayments are quickly identified and recouped, the very staff who identified the overpayments in this report.
That $3 million is less than 1 percent of $7.1 billion paid out to 1.13 million people in 2012.
