DEED outlines paid‑leave rollout, workforce grants and UI trends; committee presses for fraud and trust‑fund details

Deputy commissioners and DEED leaders briefed the Senate Jobs and Economic Development Committee on Jan. 29 about the department’s work rolling out paid family and medical leave, workforce grants and unemployment‑insurance (UI) program trends.

Deputy Commissioner Evan Rowe said the paid‑leave program passed by the 2023 Legislature is proceeding through rulemaking and technical development. He said DEED has contracted a vendor (Nava PBC, named in testimony) to build the benefit‑payment and integrity systems and that wage‑detail reporting was launched in October to simplify employer registration for many employers by leveraging existing unemployment‑insurance wage reports. He said DEED will phase in hiring and customer‑service capacity through 2025 ahead of the program’s effective date.

Rowe and other DEED deputies described workforce grants funded in the 2023 budget: Pathways to Prosperity, Women’s Economic Security Act grants, Southeast Asian workforce grants, Getting to Work (greater‑Minnesota transportation and vehicle repair support), adult and youth support services, Drive for 5 (training in tech, health care, construction/trades, education and manufacturing), and the youth‑at‑work and youth‑build initiatives. Deputy Commissioner Mark Majors highlighted outcomes reported to Sept. 30, 2024: about 44,100 youth enrolled across youth programs, roughly 25,100 engaged in training and an average exit wage near $22/hour for program completers; Majors also described the Office of New Americans and its role in connecting immigrant workers to jobs.

Senators raised program‑integrity and UI trust‑fund questions. Commissioner Matt Berlek and deputies said DEED applies tailored internal controls depending on program type: for grants this can include requiring IRS Form 990s, project budgets that align to legislative language, audits, contract monitoring, and coordination with the Office of the Legislative Auditor and other state partners. Berlek said the agency balances speedy delivery with stewardship and noted ongoing internal audits and policy updates.

On UI trends, Deputy Commissioner Rowe said Minnesota has experienced national‑scale increases in benefit payments since 2022 while UI tax collections have not grown as strongly, in part because of pandemic‑era mechanics such as the employer experience‑rate freeze that changed how employer charges were reflected. Rowe said Minnesota performs well on federal payment‑accuracy measures and has comparatively low fraud rates per Department of Labor reviews, but senators requested additional, more granular data. Senator Pratt said the UI trust fund balance declined about 28% in the prior 12 months and 39% over two years and requested a short, committee‑level briefing with detailed causes and policy options before the February forecast.

Committee members also asked about fraud vectors and specific constituent cases. DEED described multiple fraud typologies (cybercrime/data theft creating false claims; applicants providing false information) and described the agency’s technical and investigative tools — analytics, data‑matching, employer fact‑finding, and pursuit of investigations and appeals as needed. Berlek and deputies promised follow‑up reports and additional data to the committee on UI payments, fraud investigations and program controls.