UIA director tells Michigan oversight panel agency has cut fraud, outlines MyUI modernization and collections relaunch

Unemployment Insurance Agency Director Jason Palmer told the Michigan House Oversight Committee on State and Local Public Assistance Programs that the agency has taken steps to address fraud and errors tied to pandemic-era benefit programs and outlined a plan to modernize eligibility and fraud detection systems.

The committee convened for a hearing on two Office of Auditor General audits from 2023 that examined UIA investigations, fraud controls and claims processing. UIA officials told lawmakers that criminal actors and program design led to substantial overpayments during the pandemic, that some audit findings remain open while others are closed, and that the agency is pursuing recoveries and system-level changes.

Palmer, introduced as "the new UIA director," summarized actions the agency has taken since his appointment, including resolving three lawsuits, reorganizing a legal and compliance bureau, creating a modernization work group of external business and labor stakeholders, and reconstituting investigation and cross-match routines used to detect imposters and improper payments. "We have translated hard lessons into smarter planning and stronger systems," Palmer said. He added that the agency has reprogrammed MIDAS where needed and is preparing a new statewide system, MyUI, planned for 2026.

Why it matters: lawmakers pressed that millions—or by some estimates billions—of dollars paid in pandemic unemployment help were later judged by auditors to be overpayments or vulnerable to fraud. Committee members…