I KNOW THE OFFICIAL NAME is the Employment Security Commission, but
everywhere I have ever lived, everyone, without a hint of sarcasm, calls it the
Unemployment Office — because that is what it is. It is where you go when you are
unemployed.
Recently, in one of the latest installments in a bewildering series of incompetencies,
malfeasances and corruptions uncovered in our state’s government, we learned that
the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina overpaid tens of thousands of
the unemployed workers in our state by tens of millions of dollars — and then, to rectify
the problem — demanded full repayment or it was going to severely cut their checks —
with barely any notice — for a problem not of their doing.
This problem, and its problematic solution, had been brewing for a while. The U.S.
Department of Labor said this week that it notified the ESC of the programming errors
last November, almost a year ago, after a routine review it conducted with all states.
State auditors found that the ESC was making numerous mistakes when calculating
benefits, particularly for those receiving federal stimulus dollars, said Dennis Patterson,
a spokesman for the state auditor’s office.
“It was a whole pile of different things,” Patterson added, providing an image evocative
of a smell emanating from a cattle yard.
Originally, auditors discovered about $190,000 in overpayments after looking at a
sample of about 4,500 cases. The ESC told auditors it knew about the problem and
was working to rectify it. Patterson said state auditors did not know the scope of the
overpayments until last week when the ESC announced about 38,000 recipients had
been overpaid $28 million.
The ESC’s Information Services Section, which originally programmed the errors, is
also responsible for programming the fixes to halt the overpayments to long-term
unemployed workers, said Patterson.
Although I am aware that our state’s unemployment rate is quite high, I think it should
be higher as some of those currently employed at the Employment Security
Commission should instead be availing themselves of its services — after being
terminated from their jobs there.
This week Governor Beverly Perdue announced the repayment of these overpayments
would be waived. Maybe she has the authority to forgive these overpayments, but I
don’t know where it comes from. Just for the record it is not her money, it is yours and
mine.
It is reported that the ESC is continuing to negotiate with the U.S. Department of Labor
about how to resolve the funding for the overpayments. I can tell you this: it will be
repaid with tax dollars, one way or the other, so get out your wallets.
“I’m going to find out why something so ludicrous happened,” said Perdue.
“I’ve got to fix the system,” Perdue is also quoted as saying. “I’ve got to fix the
leadership team to be sure we have people in place who can do what they need to do,”
she said. “I’m not at all reluctant to ask somebody to leave my administration,” she
added.
Personally I think that the governor is on the right track. To get to the bottom of all of
this, the governor should go to the top.
Given the all the recent revelations concerning the poor, pathetic and/or perverse
performance of her administration (including, but not limited to, the State Bureau of
Investigation, state parole office, state board of elections, state mental health services,
state Highway Patrol, state Department of Transportation, state Alcoholic Beverage
Control, state School for the Deaf, and state’s UNC-TV — not to overstate things — but
also adding the fines levied after the “hasty” investigation of her state gubernatorial
campaign for undeclared contributions-in-kind in the form of 42 unreported, privately
funded flights), maybe Governor Perdue should consider asking Governor Perdue to
resign.
Gary D. Gaddy used to work for the state of North Carolina before he had to let himself
go.
A version of this story was published in the Chapel Hill Herald on Friday October 8,
2010.
Copyright 2010 Gary D. Gaddy
garygaddy.com 