A Labor Department employee is the latest federal worker to be accused of claiming unemployment benefits while holding down a full-time job with Uncle Sam, highlighting what one leading senator said has become a persistent problem of double-dipping.
Mo Yuong Kang, who worked as an industrial hygienist for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2020 and 2021, was paid a $90,000 annual salary as millions of other Americans were being laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.
Federal prosecutors said he also applied for and received pandemic unemployment benefits from April 2020 through September 2021. According to the federal indictment, he collected nearly $46,000 in extra cash.
Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican, said thousands more who held government jobs may have collected unemployment benefits on the side.
She asked the Labor Department inspector general, who helped investigate Mr. Kang, to review the government’s lists of employees and unemployment beneficiaries and see where they overlap.
“Hundreds, even thousands, of government employees appear to have been ripping off the unemployment system by claiming to be unemployed,” she said.
She said the problem extends beyond federal workers.
In Ohio, an inspector general this week reported on a contract employee at the state’s unemployment benefits agency who was found to be collecting benefits for eight months while she held her government job.
The inspector general said Sandra Schnieders, a customer service assistant, also manipulated eight claims, leading to higher payouts for friends and associates. In one case, she boosted the weekly payout from $189 to a maximum of $480. In another case, she approved a file that had been halted, leading to $21,323 in bogus payouts.
Investigators said she was responsible for $112,240 in fraudulent payments, nearly $19,000 of which went to her own pocket.
Hellbound and Down 