ALBANY, N.Y. — 2 On Your Side has confirmed that the New York State Comptroller's Office is conducting an audit of the state unemployment system.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office said the audit began in February and is looking at a variety of policies, programs, and potential fraud within the state unemployment system.
Several 2 On Your Side viewers have told us that they had fraudulent claims made in their name with the Department of Labor.
In a statement, the Comptroller's office told 2 On Your Side "the audit was initiated based on our assessment of the risk which includes complaints, large increases in payments, new programs and criteria, and changes to the I.T. We also have looked at this system in the past."
Two Western New York lawmakers have commented on the audit. NYS Senator George Borrello said:
“Under the leadership of the Comptroller, we look forward to an independent and thorough examination of the system and the factors that contributed to the unending problems that have plagued the agency this past year. As the Comptroller noted, this review will take approximately six months to one year."
Additionally, NYS Senator Ed Rath said the audit should go a step further.
“I am happy that Comptroller DiNapoli will be auditing the New York State Unemployment system for fraud. While this is a critical first step, I believe that a full and comprehensive audit of the system needs to be done. From the very start of the pandemic, the unemployment system in our State has been an absolute mess and the lack of transparency has been very concerning."
The Department of Labor, which oversees the unemployment system in the state, issued a statement to 2 On Your Side saying:
The New York State Department of Labor does not comment on pending audits. However, it is important to note that The Comptroller's State Audit team performs financial and performance audits of New York State agencies on a routine basis – so in light of the fact that the New York State Department of Labor has paid out over $81 billion in benefits to more than 4.6 million New Yorkers, an audit is not an unusual practice, and in fact, expected.
This is a developing story, and we will have more information as we get it into our newsroom.