A forensic audit that found Kansas paid up to $466 million in unemployment fraud is now public, revealing the contents of a report that some state officials wanted to keep at least partially secret.
The audit was provided to and discussed by members of the Unemployment Compensation Modernization and Improvement Council earlier this month, but members were required to surrender their copies at the conclusion of the meeting. The public was barred from viewing the audit.
Council chair Rep. Sean Tarwater, R-Stilwell, said KDOL had demanded redactions to the audit, which by law was supposed to be public.
The Labor Department denied an open records request for an unredacted version of the audit, calling redactions of confidential information a requirement of state law. Meanwhile, senior legislative staff released an unredacted version, declaring it “no longer considered to be confidential.”
The council is scheduled to meet again Monday.
More:Who is trying to hide audit showing Kansas lost $466M in unemployment fraud? Here’s what we know.
Of $3.5 billion in payments, up to $466 million was fraud
More than $3.5 billion was paid out by the state’s unemployment system. The auditors estimate between $441 million and $466 million in “potentially fraudulent claims” were paid out.
That means about 13% of all unemployment benefit payments were likely fraudulent.
The period covered March 15, 2020, through March 31, 2022. More than 1.5 million claims were filed from nearly 1.1 million unique claimants.
The ..
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