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U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General — unemployment insurance oversight

DOL OIG Unemployment Insurance — 32 court filings in the archive, mostly from U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, filed between April 21, 2020 and March 5, 2026.

Case facts

CourtU.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General (4 filings); U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General (audit by KPMG LLP) (1 filing)
Filings32 public filings
Filed2020-04-21 – 2026-03-05
Original PDFs32 of 32

Case summary

This page collects oversight documents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General on the unemployment insurance program during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, dated April 21, 2020 to March 5, 2026. They are audit reports, alert memoranda and congressional testimony, together with one report of an audit performed by KPMG LLP and one joint report issued with the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General. The earliest is an advisory report of April 21, 2020 setting out initial areas of concern on state preparedness, initial eligibility determination, benefit amount and return to work. Later documents report on Pandemic Unemployment Assistance self-certification, compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act, state IT systems, staffing, unused Title XII funds, data sharing with the Small Business Administration, and unemployment funds frozen by banks.

Case at a glance

PartiesIssuing body: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; one audit was performed by KPMG LLP and one December 2024 report was issued jointly with the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General. The reports are addressed to the Employment and Training Administration, to Congress and to congressional committees
Court and docketAgency documents, no docket. Each carries an OIG report number, for example 19-20-001-03-315 for the April 21, 2020 report and 19-23-003-03-315 for the February 8, 2023 testimony
ProgramUnemployment insurance, including the CARES Act programs and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance; the joint report of December 5, 2024 also covers the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program
ClaimsNot applicable. These are audits, alert memoranda, statutory compliance reports and congressional testimony
Disposition or statusContinuing. The documents span April 21, 2020 to March 5, 2026 and include testimony of two Inspectors General, Larry D. Turner in 2023 and Anthony P. D'Esposito in 2026
Status checked2026-09-23 · against DOJ press releases through 2026-09-22; court docket not yet read

What do the documents report?

Findings and recommendations on the unemployment insurance program: state preparedness and eligibility determination in 2020, self-certification under Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act for fiscal 2020, state IT systems, mixed earners unemployment compensation, staffing, the reconciliation of unused Title XII funds, and state efforts to identify fraud using suspicious email accounts.

What figures do they give?

The joint report of December 5, 2024 states that as of September 2023 DOL OIG had identified $46.9 billion in potential unemployment insurance fraud paid in six specific high-risk areas, and that 3,850 Economic Injury Disaster Loans associated with suspicious emails were used to receive over $163 million in unemployment benefit payments and over $224 million in EIDL disbursements.

Who issues them and to whom?

The Office of Inspector General, an independent office overseeing DOL programs. The March 5, 2026 testimony of Inspector General Anthony P. D'Esposito states that $888 billion in total federal and state unemployment benefits was paid during the pandemic.

Summary written from the documents on this page; every sentence is sourced.

Filings

32 public filings from this case, in filing-date order.

  1. Advisory Report: CARES Act — Initial Areas of Concern Regarding Implementation of Unemployment Insurance Provisions (DOL OIG, 2020)
  2. Alert Memorandum — PUA Self-Certification Renders $110 Billion Program Vulnerable to FraudPDF
  3. Congressional Testimony: Unemployment Insurance during COVID-19 — The CARES Act and the Role of UI (DOL OIG, June 2020)
  4. Audit Report — More Can Be Done to Mitigate Fraud Risk to CARES Act Unemployment CompensationPDF
  5. Audit Survey — States Cite Fraud Vulnerabilities from PUA Self-Certification Requirement
  6. Alert Memorandum — $5.4 Billion in Potentially Fraudulent UI Payments in Four High-Risk AreasPDF
  7. Audit Report — States Struggled to Implement CARES Act Unemployment Insurance ProgramsPDF
  8. Alert Memorandum: ETA Needs to Issue Guidance to Ensure State Workforce Agencies Provide UI Data to the OIG (DOL OIG, June 2021)PDF
  9. Alert Memorandum — ETA Does Not Require NASWA to Report Suspected UI Fraud Data to OIGPDF
  10. Performance Audit Report: DOL Complied with PIIA for FY 2020 but UI Improper Payment Data Did Not Represent Total Program Expenses (DOL OIG, 2021)PDF
  11. Alert Memorandum: ETA Needs to Ensure State Workforce Agencies Report Activities Related to CARES Act Unemployment Insurance Programs (DOL…PDF
  12. Alert Memorandum: Potentially Fraudulent Unemployment Insurance Payments in High-Risk Areas Increased to $45.6 Billion (DOL OIG, September…PDF
  13. Performance Audit Report: COVID-19 — ETA and States Did Not Protect Pandemic-Related UI Funds from Improper Payments Including Fraud or from Payment Delays…PDF
  14. Congressional Testimony — The Greatest Theft of American Tax Dollars: Unchecked Unemployment Insurance Fraud (2023-02-08)
  15. Alert Memorandum — ETA and States Need to Ensure Identity Verification Contractors Provide Equitable Access and Secure Biometric DataPDF
  16. Evaluation Memorandum: Tracking the Department of Labor's Unemployment Insurance Response to Local Communities During the Pandemic (DOL…PDF
  17. Performance Audit Memorandum: COVID-19 — Audit of State…
  18. Performance Audit Report: COVID-19 — Unemployment Relief for…
  19. Alert Memorandum — ETA Can Improve Its Oversight to Ensure Integrity over CARES Act UI Programs
  20. Alert Memorandum — ETA Needs Data Analytics Capability to Improve Oversight of the UI ProgramPDF
  21. Audit Report — PUA for Non-Traditional Claimants Weakened by Billions in Overpayments, Including Fraud
  22. Audit Report — ETA Needs a Plan to Reconcile and Return Nearly $5 Billion in Unused TFFF Funds to U.S. Treasury
  23. Evaluation Memorandum: A Review of Pandemic Unemployment Insurance Relief and Its Impact on Six Different U.S. Communities (DOL OIG, March…PDF
  24. Audit Report — ETA Did Not Ensure States Sufficiently Implemented the Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation Program
  25. Audit Report — ETA Could Have Done More to Ensure States Had Sufficient Staffing to Deliver Timely Pandemic Unemployment Benefits
  26. Joint Report: COVID-19 Data Sharing Project Finds Billions Paid to Same Likely Fraudsters
  27. Performance Audit Report: COVID-19 — ETA Needs to Improve Its Oversight of States' Efforts to Identify UI Fraud Using Deceased Persons' Social Security NumbersPDF
  28. Performance Audit Report: ETA Did Not Ensure ARPA Grants Demonstrated Improvements in Access to Unemployment Benefits (DOL OIG, August 2025)PDF
  29. Audit Report — ETA Needs to Improve Its Oversight of States' Efforts to Identify UI Fraud Using Suspicious Email AccountsPDF
  30. Alert Memorandum — $714 Million in Potentially Fraudulent UI Funds on Prepaid CardsPDF
  31. Alert Memorandum: ETA Needs to Ensure State Workforce Agencies Take Action to Recover Significant UI Holdings Still Held by Financial Institution 2's Prepaid…PDF
  32. Congressional Testimony — Reclaiming Forgotten Fraudulent Pandemic UI Funds Frozen by Banks (2026-03-05)

Court, dates and docket numbers are as recorded on the filings.

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