Commission on Unemployment Compensation, Unemployment Subcommittee: July 18, 2023
Summary
Letter of the Unemployment Subcommittee of the Commission on Unemployment Compensation, which states that § 30-222 of the Code of Virginia requires a subcommittee to monitor the Virginia Employment Commission's management of the unemployment insurance system. It lists Delegate Byron as Chairwoman and members including Doris Crouse-Mays (AFL-CIO) and Julia Hammond (NFIB). It says the Subcommittee met on July 18, 2023 to consider updates presented by Commissioner Carrie Roth. The attached VEC Unemployment Insurance (UI) Update on Progress-to-Date lists an agenda of Backlog/Timeliness, Fraud, Expenditures, Usability and JLARC, and says the adjudication backlog and the potential fraud backlog were eliminated and the first level appeals backlog was reduced by 33%.
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“Commission on Unemployment Compensation, Unemployment Subcommittee: July 18, 2023.”
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COMMISSION ON UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION
UNEMPLOYMENT SUBCOMMITTEE
Per § 30-222 of the Code of Virginia, as amended by H.B. 270 and S.B. 219 during the
2022 Regular Session of the General Assembly, the Commission on Unemployment
Compensation is required to establish an Unemployment Compensation Subcommittee to
monitor the Virginia Employment Commission's management of the Commonwealth's
unemployment insurance system. The Unemployment Compensation Subcommittee is tasked
with reviewing key performance metrics related to unemployment insurance backlogs; efforts to
identify, prevent, and recover incorrect unemployment insurance benefit payments, including
fraudulent payments; modernization of the unemployment insurance information technology
system and subsequent efforts to improve functionality; expenditures of state funds appropriated
for unemployment insurance administration; and implementation of recommendations from the
2021 Operations and Performance of the Virginia Employment Commission report by the Joint
Legislative Audit and Review Commission.
The Unemployment Compensation Subcommittee is required to include (i) at least one
employee stakeholder representative, (ii) at least one employer representative, (iii) at least one
member of the Commission on Unemployment Compensation, (iv) at least one member from
each of the following committees: the House Committee on Appropriations, the House
Committee on Commerce and Energy, the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, and the
Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations. The Subcommittee is required to meet once
each quarter through June 30, 2025 and report annually to the House Committee on
Appropriations, the House Committee on Commerce and Energy, the Senate Committee on
Commerce and Labor, and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations.
The members of the Subcommittee, as appointed by the Chair and Vice Chair of the
Commission on Unemployment Compensation, are as follows: (i) Doris Crouse-Mays (AFL-
CIO); employee stakeholder representative; (ii) Julia Hammond (NFIB), employer stakeholder
representative; (iii) Delegate Byron, who serves as the Chairwoman of this Subcommittee; (iv)
Delegate Marshall, House Appropriations; Delegate Ware, House Commerce and Energy;
Senator Bell, Senate Commerce and Labor; Senator Ebbin, Senate Finance and Appropriations,
and Senator McPike.
The Subcommittee met on July 18, 2023 to consider updates presented by The Honorable
Commissioner Carrie Roth of the Virginia Employment Commission related to unemployment
insurance and progress to date. This letter, in conjunction with the attached report on the Virginia
Employment Commission's Unemployment Insurance Progress Update, serves to meet the
Unemployment Compensation Subcommittee's reporting requirement per § 30-222 of the Code
of Virginia.
Attachment: VEC Unemployment Insurance (UI) Update on Progress-to-Date
VEC Unemployment Insurance (UI)
Update On Progress-To-Date
July 18, 2023
Carrie Roth
VEC Commissioner
Advisor to the Governor for Strategic Initiatives
Agenda
• Backlog/Timeliness
• Fraud
• Expenditures
• Usability
• JLARC
2
VEC: November 2022 to Today
• Adjudication Backlog Eliminated
• Potential Fraud Backlog Eliminated
• First Level Appeals Backlog reduced by 33%
• Leveraging continual customer discovery for a better user
experience
• 36/38 JLARC Recommendations are complete or underway
3
UI Initial Claims
Calendar Year Claims Filed
2015 210,080 The week of
7/2/2023 -
2016 198,912 7/9/2023 saw
2017 168,028 2,816 Initial
Claims.
2018 144,166
2019 135,064 Virginia is back to
pre-pandemic
2020 1,369,045 claim levels
2021 609,772
2022 165,937
2023 Jan-Jun 77,932
4
UI Initial Claims 2020 - 2023
400,000
The week of
350,000 7/2/2023 -
300,000 7/9/2023 saw
2,816 Initial
250,000
Claims.
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2020 2021 2022 2023
5
Backlog/Timeliness
6
Backlog Reduction + Work to Date
Removed
Starting
Remaining Received or Total
Balance
Category 1/15/22 Since Complete Remaining
on
Backlog 1/15/22 Since Inventory
1/15/22
1/15/22
Separation
246,273 0 99,878 346,151 0
Reports
Adjudication
109,362 0 164,835 267,395 6,802
(Claims)
Potential
Fraud 258,320 0 92,219 350,274 265
(Claims)
First Level
Appeals
86,546 27,460 93,390 114,092 65,844
(Dockets,
Backlog)
Total 700,501 27,460 450,332 1,077,912 72,911
As of 7/17
7
Adjudication and Potential Fraud Backlogs
Pending Adjudication Backlog Eliminated
120,000
Pending Adjudications Claims
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
-
Pending Potential Fraud Backlog Eliminated
300000
Pending Potential Fraud
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
Claims
0
8
Workload by Year
2020 2021 2022 2023 Total
Unpaid PF 0 0 5 250 255
Paid PF 0 0 0 10 10
Unpaid Adj 0 0 16 4,711 4,727
Paid Adj 0 0 6 2,069 2,075
FLA
(Backlog) 551 26,909 32,916 5,468 65,844
CA
(Backlog) 0 0 28 1,066 1,094
As of 7/17
9
Adjudication Timeliness
First Pay Timeliness (14/21 Days)
• January 2022
th
4 Quarter 22 st
1 Quarter 23 nd
2 Quarter 23 Adjudication
DOL Standard = 87%
Backlog
45.1% 29.9% 60.0%
Eliminated
• Goal to Achieve
DOL Timeliness
Decision Timeliness (21 Days) Standards in the
3rd Quarter of
4th Quarter 22 1st Quarter 23 2nd Quarter 23
DOL Standard = 80% 2023
30.7% 23.6% 54.2%
10
DOL First Pay Timeliness, Q2 2023
State % State % State % State % State % State % • Virginia now ranks 42nd in First
ND 97.9 IA 86.1 IN 77.0 FL ^72.0 NY ^63.1 OH ^44.1 Pay Timeliness and 39th in
AK 93.4 WV 85.7 LA 76.3 CA 71.4 VA 60.0 DC ^43.6 Decision Timeliness
WY 90.7 WI 84.8 CO ^75.8 AZ 70.7 AR ^59.4 AL 40.9
SC 90.6 MN ^84.7 HI 75.4 GA 69.6 NC 58.4 US 69.8 • Ahead of neighboring states
ID 90.0 MS 84.4 NE ^75.4 CT ^69.1 NV ^53.9 such as North Carolina,
SD ^90.0 PR 82.3 NH ^75.1 DE 69.1 VI ^53.8 Tennessee, Kentucky, DC
UT 89.3 OK ^81.3 TX 75.0 VT ^68.7 TN ^51.5
• Within 10 percentage points of
OR 87.8 ME ^80.3 KS 74.7 NJ 68.3 PA 49.7
the National average on both
MT 87.3 IL 79.0 MI 74.5 NM ^65.1 WA 49.4
metrics
RI 86.6 MO 77.5 MD 74.3 MA ^64.1 KY 49.1
DOL Decision Timeliness, Q2 2023
State % State % State % State % State % State %
ME ^96.6 MT 89.8 DC ^78.5 RI 65.1 WA 51.3 NV ^16.5
SC 96.2 OK ^88.5 OR 78.1 IN 59.9 NC 51.2 AR ^12.1
MS 95.1 CT 87.8 MI 75.0 MA ^59.7 HI 49.4 FL ^6.6
ND 95.0 WV 87.3 NJ 74.7 NY ^58.9 OH ^46.4 US 63.6
AK 94.4 SD ^87.2 MO 74.7 AL 58.6 DE ^42.0
UT 94.1 CO ^86.1 PR 72.7 VI 58.6 AZ 37.2
NE ^93.7 MN ^81.7 IA 72.0 GA 57.5 PA 36.1
WY 91.6 ID ^80.4 TX 71.1 TN ^57.5 KY ^31.8
WI ^91.0 NH ^78.9 KS ^70.2 VA 54.2 NM ^27.4
IL 90.6 LA 78.7 MD 65.7 CA 52.4 VT ^20.8
11
First Level Appeals
Claimants have the
First Level Appeals Backlog right to appeal on
120,000 November 9th: each issue, 65,844
97,915
1/15 Beginning
backlog: 86,546 dockets represents
100,000
39,107 appellants
80,000
Peak: Sept 15th,
Number of Pending
First Level Appeals 60,000
101,616
Goal to achieve DOL
Dockets
40,000
Current: 65,844 Timeliness standards
by Q4
20,000
-
As of 7/17
12
Overpayment Waivers Total Amount Waived as
of 7/7/23: $258,947,153
Category November July 2023 State Overpayment
2022 Count Count Dollars Waived:
$81,289,826
Overpayment Waiver Applications 92,475 101,818
Federal Overpayment
Waiver Applications Approved 59,350 79,309 Dollars Waived:
$177,657,327
Waiver Applications Denied 16,306 18,897
Continue to Process
Waiver Applications in Appeals 6,045 778 Waivers for Applicable
Timeframe
13
Overpayments Currently in Collections
• Overpayment Fraud Overpayments Recovered
• 39,759 payments (March 2020 to Present)
$297M
• $66,472,663 total dollars
• Overpayment Non-Fraud Collections Allowed to Restart
July 2022
• 367,569 payments
• $853,180,549 total dollars
14
Fraud
15
Fraud
Policy of the Administration to
• Identity Theft: 261,892 Claims for $1,661,531,579 (85% Federal
Dollars) pursue every case of confirmed
fraud. We are working with both
• Administrative Fraud: 30,895 Claims for $60,418,433 the Virginia Attorney General and
• Criminal Fraud: 8,864 Claims for $6,054,230 the Federal Government to
prosecute
• Potential Fraud claims investigation backlog complete
• VEC Website now behind VITA Web Application Firewall (WAF)
• Judged to same timeliness standards as Adjudication
16
Prosecutions
Willie Muse and Mike Sanders
• OAG VEC Unemployment Fraud Unit: both received an award on March
• 34 Total Indictments 30th 2023 for uncovering an
• 5 Pending Indictments (will be indicted in the next month enormous fraud ring centered
or two) around state prisons. Their
• 23 Convictions discovery led to the case US vs
Mary Landon Benton as a part of
• Total Court Ordered Restitution: $269,003
Operation Checkmate with the
• Pending Restitution in Active Court Cases / Pending Department of Corrections
Indictments: $297,960
• Roughly 70 cases pending investigation with estimated
restitution total of $798,761
• Federal Convictions
• 119 Cases with 97 Convictions
• Over $12.5 Million Restitution Ordered
• DOL OIG Recognition for two VEC Investigators
17
Expenditures
18
General Assembly UI Trust Fund
Authorizations
• December 24, 2020, deposit of $210,000,000 Current Trust Fund
from CRF Balance:
$1,539,790,415.05
• September 21, 2021, deposit of $862,000,000
from ARPA
• March 18, 2022, deposit of $180,698,052
from CRF
• June 30, 2022, Overpayment Forgiveness
deposit of $18,723,959 from General Fund
19
Additional Budget Authorizations (ARPA)
Item Title Description Total
1 IT UI Mod Completion Upgrade the UI System after completion of the third phase of the
and Upgrades UI Mod Project. Technology needs will include fraud protection,
better communication tools between claimant and system and $43,200,000
call center and system, updated website, and CRM to help
communicate with multiple stakeholder groups.
2 Security Support continued elevated security at each center for employee
safety $2,000,000
3 Call Center Support to increase and maintain call center capacity with staff
augmentation $40,900,000
4 Adjudication Officers Support third party contract for adjudication officers $5,100,000
20
Usability
21
Becoming a Customer-Focused
Organization
• Customer Advisory Council (CAC) held two meetings in March and
April 2023
• Conducted a Call Center after-action survey in February 2023
• Delivered 10 Regional Introductory Customer Advocate Meet and
Greet sessions in June 2023
• Customer Advocates are actively assisting Customers with barriers
throughout the state. Examples are: Deaf/ Hard of hearing, Blind,
significantly disabled, English as a second language, autism and
homelessness
• Customer Advocates are actively resolving constituent referrals
received from the members of the General Assembly
• Working directly with customers having difficulty accessing the UI
Direct portal to determine commonly seen problems and share
solutions to allow more customers to use online filing
• Planned follow-up Focus Group sessions and Surveys of claimants in
Fall 2023 (Fall 2022 benchmark)
22
Online Claim Filing
23
Call Center
IVR Abandons
Total Inbound Calls
25,000
80,000 Average Wait Time: 15 minutes
20,000
60,000
15,000
40,000
- 48%
75,590
10,000 21,118
20,000 39,472 -73%
5,000
0 5,755
0
1/8 7/09
1/8 7/09
IVR Resolved Calls
2,500
+ 115 %
2,000
1,500
1,000 2,212
500 1,031
0
1/8 7/09
24
Call Center Survey Results
• The top three reasons for calling were a general inquiry, adding
to or reopening a claim, and opening a new claim
• Over 90 percent of respondents had their issues fully resolved or
partially resolved by the VEC call center representative
• Almost one third of those who had their issue resolved expected
they would have to call back about this same issue
25
Call Center Key Initiatives
• IVR Enhancement: Enhanced Script content through complete
assessment and redesign, and enhanced voice clarity
• Script reduction from 528 to 76
• Call Center and Adjudication co-location
• Multiple Languages deploying 8/23
• Appeals API in the IVR
26
JLARC
27
JLARC Recommendation Updates Summary
Responsible Party Complete Underway TBD On Hold Not Started
VEC 25 11 1 0 1
30
JLARC Recommendation Updates
Title Responsible Party Short Description Details Status
JLARC VEC National firm to The secretary of labor should competitively procure a national firm with expertise in evaluating
Recommendation #1 evaluate organization's the efficiency of an organization’s staffing structure, delegation of staff duties, and work processes
staffing and related to conduct a comprehensive efficiency review of the un- employment insurance (UI) operations of
components the Virginia Employment Commission to (i) identify specific actions that could be taken to improve
Complete
the efficiency of VEC’s UI operations, including through more efficient and effective use of staff
and technology, (ii) recommend improvements to the agency’s staffing and workflows to most
effectively use existing federal funding for UI operations, and (iii) determine whether current
funding is adequate to ensure effective UI operations. (Chapter 3)
JLARC VEC Establish goals for the The Virginia Employment Commission should establish goals for the ratio of supervisory staff to
Recommendation #2 ratio of supervisory direct reports, particularly for key functions including call centers, adjudication and appeals
staff to direct reports centers, and fraud investigations. Agency leadership should regularly monitor the ratio of Complete
supervisory staff to direct reports relative to the goals, and report performance in meeting these
goals in the monthly commissioner’s performance report. (Chapter 3)
JLARC Other Agency Multi-agency The General Assembly may wish to consider including language in the Appropriation Act requiring
Recommendation #3 workgroup to organize the Virginia Department of Human Resource Management to lead a multi-agency workgroup,
emergency-related comprising agency leaders and human resources staff from state agencies most likely to be in
issues due to staffing need of staffing assistance during emergencies, to examine the feasibility of and policies and
procedures necessary for (i) granting agencies exemptions from certain competitive hiring
requirements during emergencies; (ii) requiring selected state agency staff to temporarily support
other agencies in need of staffing assistance during emergencies through existing or new state Complete
initiatives; and (iii) providing necessary funding to cover the associated costs. The workgroup
should propose criteria to determine under what circumstances these emergency hiring practices
may be invoked and a process for invoking this authority as well as terminating it. The workgroup
should submit its findings to the secretary of administration, the chair of the House Appropriations
Committee, and the chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee by June 30, 2022.
(Chapter 3)
JLARC VEC Establish call center The Virginia Employment Commission should establish meaningful performance goals for its call
Recommendation #4 performance goals center operations and fraud investigations, and ensure it has goals for effectively measuring
performance in all other aspects of unemployment insurance operations. Agency leadership Complete
should regularly monitor performance relative to the goals and report goals and performance in
the monthly commissioner’s performance report. (Chapter 3)
JLARC VEC UI Quality assurance to The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should transfer the unemployment insurance quality
Recommendation #5 report to VEC assurance unit from the unemployment insurance division and have it report directly to the VEC Complete
Commissioner commissioner. (Chapter 3)
29
JLARC Recommendation Updates
Title Responsible Party Short Description Details Status
JLARC VEC UI Quality assurance to The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should require its unemployment insurance quality
Recommendation #6 routinely report assurance unit to compile its findings and recommendations in a central repository and routinely Complete
findings update VEC leadership on their status. (Chapter 3)
JLARC VEC Key policies and The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) commissioner should ensure that all key policy or
Recommendation #8 significant changes are other significant changes that could affect the public, VEC, or VEC staff are communicated clearly
Complete
communicated to all and expeditiously to all VEC staff, especially those in leadership or positions communicating with
VEC staff the public. (Chapter 3)
JLARC VEC Review and Revise UI The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should, as soon as possible, have staff in its internal
Recommendation #10 Documents and online audit division review and revise documents and online resources to more clearly describe and
resources explain (i) eligibility criteria for Unemployment Insurance (UI), (ii) how to navigate the UI claims
and appeals process, and (iii) the status or outcome of a claim. VEC should use examples from Underway
other states and input from VEC staff and customers and should competitively procure a third
party contractor with expertise in UI and customer communications to assist with these efforts.
(Chapter 4)
30
JLARC Recommendation Updates
Title Responsible Party Short Description Details Status
JLARC Recommendation VEC VEC to develop increased The Virginia Employment Commission should develop (i) a series of instructional, short videos designed to help
#11 UI communications for claimants better understand their potential eligibility for unemployment insurance, the steps of the application
the public process, and how to file a claim and (ii) an interactive, online eligibility tool that enables claimants to better Underway
understand their potential eligibility and benefits under the program. (Chapter 4)
JLARC Recommendation VEC VEC to have reserve staff The Virginia Employment Commission should build a reserve of staff to assist with claims during periods of high
#12 to help with UI during claims volume by identifying workforce services division staff whose time can practicably be reassigned to non-
Complete
high volumes workforce activities during periods of high unemployment insurance claim volume. These staff should be cross-
trained on key unemployment insurance processes. (Chapter 4)
JLARC Recommendation VEC Adjudication priorities The Virginia Employment Commission should formalize a policy for prioritizing and assigning claims for
#13 and policies during high adjudication during periods of high claims volume. This policy should detail how prioritization may change in
Complete
volume response to claims volume and clearly state the expectation that VEC should generally prioritize resolving older
claims. (Chapter 4)
JLARC Recommendation VEC Develop a plan to The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should develop a detailed plan that includes specific actions and a
#14 address adjudication of timeline to resolve (i) outstanding adjudications and (ii) all issues on claims that VEC bypassed in 2020 and 2021.
submitted claims in 2020, The plan should quantify the numbers and qualifications of new staff needed to resolve these claims, outline the
2021 actions planned for hiring needed staff, and identify potential risks and mitigation strategies. VEC should submit Complete
the plan to the House Labor and Commerce Committee, the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, the
Commission on Unemployment Compensation, and the governor by November 1, 2021 and provide a status
update to each body quarterly in 2022. VEC should also publish the plan and updates on its website. (Chapter 4)
JLARC Recommendation VEC Contract with 3rd party The Virginia Employment Commission should maintain an ongoing staff augmentation contract with a provider
#15 call center to use during that is experienced in providing call center services for unemployment insurance programs and can quickly
Underway
high volume provide increased call center staff when call volumes increase. (Chapter 4). Note JLARC Policy Option #1 also
addresses the issue of third-party call center contracts. RFP underway as of July 2023
JLARC Recommendation VEC Quarterly reporting on The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should provide a written quarterly update on the performance of its
#16 call center performance call centers to the House Labor and Commerce Committee, the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, the
Complete
Commission on Unemployment Compensation, and the governor by December 31, 2021 and at the end of each
quarter in 2022. VEC should also publish these updates on its website. (Chapter 4)
JLARC Recommendation VEC Develop team for each The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should establish and maintain a dedicated quality monitoring team
#17 call center for quality and composed of VEC staff from each customer contact center. This team should use the recently procured quality
performance monitoring monitoring software to regularly review and assess call quality and performance for all VEC call agents, and Complete
identify any additional training needs on an agent-by-agent basis through weekly monitoring and assessment of
at least three calls per agent. (Chapter 4)
31
JLARC Recommendation Updates
Title Responsible Party Short Description Details Status
JLARC Recommendation VEC Legislation to disallow The General Assembly may wish to consider amending § 60.2-619 of the Code of Virginia to specify that non-valid
#18 appeals for certain unemployment insurance claims resulting from monetary ineligibility are ineligible for appeal through the Virginia Complete
ineligible claims Employment Commission’s (VEC’s) appeals division. (Chapter 4)
JLARC Recommendation VEC Revise ineligibility notices The Virginia Employment Commission should revise monetary determination notices to clearly indicate if a claim is
#19 to be more clear for non-valid because of monetary ineligibility, and direct claimants who disagree with their non-valid monetary Complete
claimants determination to request a redetermination from the monetary determination unit. (Chapter 4)
JLARC Recommendation VEC Create ombudsman The General Assembly may wish to consider amending Article 2 of Chapter 1 of Title 60.2 of the Code of Virginia to
#20 position to provide direct the Virginia Employment Commission to create an appeals ombudsman position to provide impartial
impartial information information about the unemployment insurance appeals process and help ensure that all parties are afforded due Complete
about the appeals process in such appeals. (Chapter 4)
process
JLARC Recommendation VEC Create adjudication The Virginia Employment Commission should develop a standardized training program that explains how to conduct
#21 training program high quality unemployment insurance claims determinations and that is administered by a dedicated training Complete
manager to all new and existing adjudication staff. (Chapter 5)
JLARC Recommendation VEC Require employers to The General Assembly may wish to consider amending §60.2-121.1 of the Code of Virginia to require employers to
#22 electronically provide electronically provide separation information when requested to the Virginia Employment Commission unless they Complete
separation information are granted a waiver from providing this information electronically. (Chapter 5)
JLARC Recommendation VEC VEC to audit sample of UI The Virginia Employment Commission should resume auditing a sample of UI claims to verify compliance of
#23 claims for compliance claimants with the unemployment insurance program work search requirement no later than December 1, 2021. Complete
(Chapter 5)
JLARC Recommendation VEC VEC to develop a plan to The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should develop a plan for investigating the backlog of potentially
#24 investigate and prioritize fraudulent claims and establish a strategy for prioritizing its investigations according to the potential dollar amount
backlog of fraudulent of fraudulent payments per claim. This plan should include a strategy for hiring additional fraud investigators and
claims expediting training of new hires. This plan should be presented to the House Committee on Labor and Commerce, Complete
the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, the Commission on Unemployment Compensation, and the
governor by December 31, 2021. VEC should also publish these updates on its website. (Chapter 5)
JLARC Recommendation VEC VEC to resume The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should immediately resume overpayment recovery activities for all
#25 overpayment recovery finalized overpayments and initiate collections activities for all future overpayments immediately after finalization.
activities VEC should also create and adhere to internal timeliness standards for processing all previously received and future Complete
overpayment waiver applications to ensure overpayments are finalized and recovery activities are initiated in a
timely manner. (Chapter 5)
32
JLARC Recommendation Updates
Title Responsible Party Short Description Details Status
JLARC Recommendation VEC VEC to collect feedback from The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should regularly collect feedback on the usability of the new
#26 claimants and employers about Unemployment Insurance benefits information technology system from claimants and employers and make regular
the UI interface and system improvements to the system, as necessary, that address such feedback. VEC should provide a summary of user
Complete
usability feedback and planned and completed system changes to the House Committee on Labor and Commerce, the Senate
Committee on Commerce and Labor, the Commission on Unemployment Compensation, and the governor by March
31, 2022 and at the end of each quarter in 2022. VEC should also publish this information on its website. (Chapter 6)
JLARC Recommendation VEC VEC to request for information to The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should conduct a request for information to identify additional features
#27 improve UI IT system needed for a modernized unemployment insurance IT system and hire a vendor to develop these features or develop Underway
them using agency staff. (Chapter 6)
JLARC Recommendation VEC UI IT contractor to develop a The Virginia Employment Commission should require its unemployment insurance IT modernization contractor to
#28 improvement plan for tax system develop a plan that includes specific actions and a timeline for addressing all existing tax system problems and details
Underway
problems (1) how each problem will be fixed, (2) deadlines for fixing each problem, and (3) any additional resources needed to fix
the problems. (Chapter 6)
JLARC Recommendation VEC UI IT contractor to ensure all IT The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should establish a plan with its unemployment insurance modernization
#29 staff are trained vendor to ensure VEC IT staff are sufficiently trained to operate and modify the employer tax system. (Chapter 6) Underway
JLARC Recommendation VEC Facilitate an IT Security Audit The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should work with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) to
#30 facilitate an audit of VEC’s IT security systems and to identify any necessary IT security improvements. The audit should
Underway
be completed by a vendor approved by VITA. The audit should validate whether VEC’s existing IT security systems meet
the requirements issued by VITA. (Chapter 6) Note: Will be complete by 8/2023
JLARC Recommendation VEC Transform all IT systems and The Virginia Employment Commission should fully transform all agency IT systems and servers to the state’s central IT
Underway
#31 servers to state's central IT infrastructure as soon as possible. (Chapter 6)
JLARC Recommendation VEC Legislation to report on UI The General Assembly may wish to consider amending section § 60.2 of the Code of Virginia to require the Virginia
#32 metrics Employment Commission (VEC) to annually calculate average unemployment insurance (UI) benefit levels, the average
Complete
income replacement of UI benefits in Virginia, and the recipiency rate for UI benefits. VEC should provide this
information in its annual report to the Commission on Unemployment Compensation. (Chapter 7)
JLARC Recommendation VEC Pilot program to audit The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should conduct a one-year pilot program to identify employers who owe
#33 unregistered employers to the unemployment insurance taxes but are not registered with VEC by auditing employers who do not register with VEC
Not Started
VEC to scout out tax liability after receiving notifications of potential tax liability. VEC should assess the pilot program’s effectiveness to decide
whether to use this methodology on an ongoing basis. (Chapter 8)
JLARC Recommendation VEC Pilot program to audit employers The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should conduct a one-year pilot program to identify employers who owe
#34 who are misclassifying workers unemployment insurance taxes but are not registered with VEC by auditing a sample of employers who may be
Complete
misclassifying workers based on their 1099 tax filings. VEC should assess the pilot program’s effectiveness and decide
whether to use this methodology on an ongoing basis. (Chapter 8)
33
JLARC Recommendation Updates
Title Responsible Party Short Description Details Status
JLARC VEC Reinstate SUTA dumping The Virginia Employment Commission should reinstate its State Unemployment Tax Act dumping identification
Recommendation #35 system no later than December 2022. (Chapter 8) Underway
JLARC VEC Focus half of annual audits on The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) should modify existing unemployment insurance (UI) tax audit policies
Recommendation #36 employers who are at-risk for UI to require field tax auditors to conduct at least half of their audits per year from a list of employers identified to be
tax avoidance at-risk for UI tax avoidance. VEC should define “at-risk” to include industry and employer-specific factors and Underway
establish a system for consistently identifying such employers. (Chapter 8)
JLARC VEC Begin using federal Treasury The Virginia Employment Commission should begin using the federal Treasury Offset Program for applicable
Recommendation #37 Offset Program delinquent taxes as soon as staff resources become available. (Chapter 8) Complete
JLARC VEC Report quarterly on employers The Virginia Employment Commission should provide quarterly reports to tax division regional managers that list
Recommendation #38 with 6+ months of tax due each employer with tax debt more than six months past due and require the managers to use this information to
Complete
ensure that tax field staff are taking all reasonable steps to collect the debt. (Chapter 8)
JLARC VEC VEC to designate Customer The Virginia Employment Commission should designate Customer Experience positions in the tax division to handle
Recommendation #39 Experience positions for basic employer communications and questions. (Chapter 8)
Underway
employer tax questions
JLARC VEC VEC to require employers to The Virginia Employment Commission should require employers to make unemployment insurance payments
Recommendation #40 electronically make UI payments electronically starting in 2023, develop criteria that would allow employers to be granted an exception to this
TBD
requirement, and notify employers of the criteria. (Chapter 8)
34
Questions/Comments:
Carrie Roth
Commissioner
Advisor to the Governor for Strategic Initiatives
carrie.roth@vec.virginia.gov
35
File and source
- File
- 2024-RD197.pdf
- Size
- 1,364,372 bytes
- SHA-256
- 3a1c545a899ae4bbc5e362af99886622fd9e82378e38b999ded4007a12009441
- Our copy
- 2024-RD197.pdf
- Original
- No public link identified.