Suit settled over false fraud claims against jobless
LANSING -- Attorneys and state officials on Thursday announced a settlement of a federal lawsuit against Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency over false fraud allegations, saying it includes sweeping changes in agency practices to assure thousands of Michigan residents will never again face life-altering false fraud allegations from the state agency.
The settlement will require the agency to take real steps to make sure there is a basis to suspect fraud before taking further action, said Ann Arbor attorney David Blanchard, who represented plaintiffs in the case.
“For too long state actors and their defenders in the Attorney General’s Office denied the problem and fought for a status quo that robbed unemployment beneficiaries of tax returns and income without due process,” Blanchard said.
“Me and my clients are heartened by new leadership who finally knowledge the problem and recognize that this settlement is this first step, but not the last step, of essential reform to the UIA," he said.
Read more: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/02/02/suit-settled-false-fraud-claims-jobless/97399192/
