Thursday, November 02, 2006
THE HUNT FOR 60,000 "DOUBLE-DIPPERS"
WAFB TV
(excerpt)
The State of Louisiana may have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in unemployment benefits to people who were still working. Investigators say this happened in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina. WAFB's Avery Davidson reports now, the Louisiana legislative auditor and federal authorities are on a statewide hunt for double dippers.
You might remember: in the weeks following Katrina the LA Department of Labor (DOL) made it easier for folks who lost their jobs to the hurricane to get unemployment. Well, it appears thousands across Louisiana may have taken advantage of the situation.
Katrina's flood waters washed away jobs for half a million people in Louisiana -- at least, that's how many people filed for unemployment benefits with the DOL. First Assistant Legislative Auditor Robbie Robinson says now it appears a good number of those people may have lied about losing their jobs.
To give you an idea of just how widespread the problem could be, Robinson says the DOL will soon send out 60,000 letters to people investigators believe may have been working while receiving unemployment benefits.
