Unemployment agency awarded $2.4 million federal grant for reforms that support Michigan employers

The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) announced today that it was awarded a U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) Tiger Teams grant to redesign and simplify how it engages with employers and develop a step-by-step roadmap for accessing agency services.

The $2,387,516 equitable access and communications grant will fund an initiative by UIA, in partnership with the nonprofit Civilla, to identify agency modernization efforts that will improve the employer experience. The goal is to increase efficiencies, reduce wait times for callers, and streamline the collection of employer taxes. Taxes paid by businesses to the UIA go into the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, from which jobless benefits are drawn to support qualified workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own.

“This grant will help the UIA identify ways to work collaboratively with employers and break down barriers, which is one of the goals of the UIA Modernization Workgroup,” UIA Director Julia Dale said. “I want to thank the Department of Labor for supporting our equity initiatives and recognizing the momentum we are building in reimagining the agency.”

Michigan was one of the first 18 states to be added to the USDOL Tiger Teams program. Under the program, the Department of Labor provided multi-disciplinary experts to help UIA identify resources and processes to address system modernization, equity, timely payment of benefits, fraud, and case backlogs. Recommendations included technology updates, workflow adjustments, process improvements, and/or streamlining communication.

A similar Civilla-led effort is under way to improve workers’ interactions with the UIA with the goal of shortening the time it takes to apply for benefits, reducing errors when filing for unemployment benefits, and increasing timeliness of payments.

Detroit-based Civilla will work with UIA and employers to intimately understand the complexities and address any shortcomings in the way UIA serves Michigan’s business community. Civilla will apply human-centered design principles to create a clear roadmap based on employer needs that answers questions, clarifies instructions, and eliminates confusion.

“UIA staff is enthusiastically looking at everything we do through a user-focused lens,” Dale said. “That is helping us to make real progress in our effort to transform an agency that is coming out of the pandemic stronger than ever: many of our backlogs have been diminished, those who reach us by phone give us a 90 percent favorable customer service rating, and we have brought fraud cases against 115 individuals.”

UIA Director leads reform efforts

When Director Dale took over leadership of the UIA, she was the 11th director in as many years. Since being appointed in October 2021, Director Dale has:

• Announced a replacement for the agency’s decade-old computer system with a user-friendly, state-of-the-art interface for claimants and businesses. A new system will allow timely program adjustments as economic conditions change and quick analysis of data, which is currently not possible.
• Created the UIA Modernization Workgroup, consisting of labor, business and jobless advocates to advise the UIA on significant improvements in how it can better serve Michigan workers and employers.

• Collaborated with the Attorney General’s office as well as local, state and federal law enforcement to bring bad actors to justice and combat fraud at the agency. To date, 115 individuals have been charged in connection with unemployment benefits fraud.
• Rebuilt to nearly $1.7 billion (and growing) the UI Trust Fund from which weekly benefits are paid to workers.
• Approved over 76,000 overpayment waivers of state and federal benefits paid during the global pandemic, valued at more than $555 million. More waivers are pending.
• Refunded more than $11.5 million (and counting) to more than 6,500 workers told they had been overpaid jobless benefits.
• Halted overpayment collections on claims filed since March 1, 2020, while the agency addresses pending protests and appeals.
• Identified initiatives and processes that would ease access to jobless benefits for workers in underserved communities under a $6.8 million USDOL equity grant.
• Reassigned staff and resources to address the largest categories of claims that are contributing to the agency’s case backlogs.
• Redesigned the agency’s public website at Michigan.gov/UIA for easier use on mobile phones and tablets.
• Implemented new ethics and security clearance policies for employees and contractors.