February 2017 MiMfg Magazine 13
Y
our Association works every day to defend the fundamental rights of employers in the workplace .
Tremendous progress has been made in recent years to streamline , stabilize and properly balance Michigan ’ s employment and workforce regulations but there are always areas where we need to remain vigilant to protect important policy advances and guard against attacks on employer rights .
Employer Non-Compliance Determinations
Beginning in 2016 , thousands of employers were accused by the UIA of failing to respond to inquiries in a timely or adequate manner . These “ non-compliance ” determinations were first issued to employers on Form 6367 in January 2016 . The process for protesting and adjudicating these determinations was unclear , confusing and in many cases totally inaccurate . We have worked with the Agency to make improvements but indications from 2017 determinations are that significant problems remain . Watch the video on page 14 for more .
Concerns about the Michigan Unemployment System
Employers pay billions of dollars into Michigan ’ s unemployment insurance system each year but unfortunately the system has been plagued with inefficiency , errors and scandal . Fraud , identity theft and other issues affect everyone and these problems cost manufacturers dearly — in terms of time and money . Representative Joseph Graves ( R-Linden ) has announced the creation of a work group to focus on the recent concerns surrounding Michigan ’ s Unemployment Insurance Agency . MMA will represent the interests of manufacturers , but we want to make sure we attend the work group armed with the best information to promote real , substantive changes to a failing system . To that end , MMA is inviting all member companies to participate in MMA ’ s Special Task Force on Michigan Unemployment .
This Task Force will bring together manufacturing executives and staff to ensure MMA is aware of the full scope of your unemployment concerns . We
need government affairs professionals and your company ’ s point person on unemployment to attend .
With your help , MMA will develop recommendations for legislative solutions to address these potentially costly problems :
• Identity Theft Leads to Imposter Claims : Identify thieves are using worker data to apply for and obtain unemployment benefits . The dramatic uptick in occurrences of these “ imposter claims ” has been detrimental to employers who don ’ t pay close attention to their reports and fail to protest the determinations , resulting in a negative effect on the employer ’ s tax rate . It has also been problematic for employers who did act to block the fraud , but the Agency failed to stop payment . It is obviously detrimental to the worker whose identity has been stolen and often those employees look to the employer for help in cleaning up the mess . Virtually all employers — both public and private — have been impacted . Unfortunately , the Unemployment Insurance Agency ( UIA ) has been slow to the draw and has done little in our opinion to combat the onslaught of imposter claims .
Learn about MMA ’ s Special Task Force on Michigan Unemployment
MMA is forming a Special Task Force on Michigan Unemployment to develop recommendations for legislative solutions to potential — and costly — problems in the UI system .
• Penalties for Fraud : At the same time , the UIA has been overwhelmed by a situation that led at least 20,000 claimants to be falsely accused of fraud . State and federal lawsuits are proceeding . In the meantime , the UIA has halted all collection activities for the people subject to fraud determinations during the time period in which a new computer system auto-adjudicated fraud cases and applied 400 % penalties . New Talent Investment Agency Director Wanda Stokes is now apologizing for the agency ’ s role in the mess and calling for the legislature to reduce penalty amounts required by law .
Please contact me ( 517-487-8530 or mckinley @ mimfg . org ) by Friday , 2 / 24 / 17 , if you or one of your colleagues specializing in unemployment matters would like to be at the table . A meeting of the Special Task Force on Michigan Unemployment will be scheduled for