2 min read

AUGUSTA

Joshua Harwood of Georgetown was convicted on July 30 of theft by deception for fraudulently receiving unemployment insurance payments.

The Maine Department of Labor issued a press release Tuesday stating that Harwood, 35, filed for benefits although he was not able and available for work. He was sentenced to two- and- a- half years in Maine State Prison with two years of probation, all but 30 days suspended, and must pay restitution of $9,212.76.

“Our unemployment system is successfully using the tools we have available to identify fraud to investigate and refer cases to district attorneys for prosecution,” said Commissioner of Labor Jeanne Paquette in a prepared statement. Unemployment benefit fraud involving principal amounts of $1,000 or more, are considered felonies under Maine law.”

According to the release, the Department of Labor actively pursues the collection of benefit overpayments and any associated fines and interest. The collection process usually begins by contacting claimants to request repayment or establish a repayment schedule.

Advertisement

To date in 2014, the amount of fraudulent payments recovered through prosecution totals more than $ 87,000, with about $23,000 having been collected in August alone, and 92 fraud cases are pending with district attorneys. The recovered fraudulent payment amount for all of 2013 totaled $ 67,501. In 2012, a total of 15 cases were referred to district attorneys for prosecution, resulting in five convictions. In 2013, the department referred 88 cases.

To identify when people receiving benefits are hired for permanent work, the department crossmatches the list of active claimants against the National Directory of New Hires and against employer reported quarterly wage data.

On the employer side of the unemployment system, fraud includes intentional misclassification of employees as independent contractors, misreporting worker wages to avoid payment of unemployment taxes and “ SUTA dumping,” a rate manipulation practice for obtaining a lower tax rate than a company’s unemployment experience would otherwise allow.

Citizens can report instances of suspected unemployment fraud by phone, email, fax or mail; information is available at www.maine.gov/labor/unemployment/fraud.html. Tips can be kept confidential.



Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.