New Tool for UI Fraud Floated by Department of Labor

The Department of Labor has floated a spanking new (great looks and functionality) online tool for reporting UI fraud. Christened the Fraud Tips and Leads Gateway, the tool is a portal that helps the public to check UI related data, eligibility, and helps to report fraud. According to the Department of Labor, the online tool would speed up receiving leads and acting upon them by prosecutors and concerned officials.

The portal also depicts very easily and graphically, statistics on all regions and states in the U.S. with both textual data and chart representations. The easily accessible and simply presented data would help claimants from making mistakes as they would be able to find out their eligibility, or raise questions in case of doubt.

The portal also holds exhaustive information for businesses to find out their responsibilities, what they can do to avoid negative tax implications, and how to avoid making improper payments.

UI claimants are provided with online forms, and ‘quick tips’ sections about One Stop Career Centers, and ways to connect with state job banks.

According to the Department of Labor, in spite of genuine cases of UI fraud, there are a large number of cases where applicants commit mistakes due to ignorance about the terms and conditions of their eligibility. The online portal would lead to greater transparency and reduce response time of the department.

In September, the department created a new landing page for helping visitors to identify improper payments and learn of proper payment rates for each state. The web tool also has instructions and forms to help people provide leads of unfair practice.

The portal is online and active now at http://www.dol.gov/dol/maps/map-ipia.htm.

The consumer friendly data would help many unemployed to avoid mistakes and officials to make decisions. It would also help human resources employees in businesses as a quick and valid point of reference.