As historically high unemployment compensation claims continue to inundate the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Labor Secretary Jerry Oleksiak said he knows people are struggling.

Presiding over a virtual town hall Thursday afternoon, Oleksiak acknowledged that fraud is plaguing the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program that temporarily expands unemployment insurance eligibility.

“At the end of last week we saw a sudden surge in claims with many of those claims being filed from out of state, which is one of several potential signs of fraud that we look for,” he said. “This caused us to temporarily suspend payouts for those new claims.”

Oleksiak said a number of security measures have since been implemented to detect fraudulent claims.

“As soon as last week’s surge of potential fraudulent claims was detected, our staff was in contact with law enforcement to develop even stronger identity verification methods,” he said.

Applications for the PUA program are continuing to be accepted, but new payments are being postponed until the new identity verification methods are ready to go, Oleksiak said. PUA claimants who applied before the issue arose are unaffected as are claimants of other L & I unemployment compensation programs.

“We know some legitimate claimants have been victims of these scammers and we’re working with law enforcement to identify those responsible. We know you are frustrated with this and I’m frustrated with this situation as well and that’s why we continue to work on it around the clock,” Oleksiak told people who had called into the town hall.

Oleksiak urged people to remain vigilant and report fraud if they become a victim.

Since March, the state has paid more than $28.5 billion in unemployment benefits, including the traditional unemployment system, the pieces of the federal CARES Act and the Lost Wages Assistant Program, according to statistics compiled by the state.

Oleksiak said the UC service center staff has more than doubled from 775 employees to 1,640 since March 15, when the full adverse effects of the pandemic first hit Pennsylvania.

Susan Dickinson, director of the state Labor & Industry unemployment compensation benefits policy, acknowledged that even when people filing for claims do everything correctly, there are still glitches in the system.

“It is taking a long time because of the volume,” said Dickinson. “When all this fraud started occurring, and it continues to occur, there are a lot precautions we have to take. We’re looking at some software to help us out with this and speed things up.”

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