R994-406-403. Fraud Disqualification and Penalty

(1) Penalty Cannot be Modified.

The Department has no authority to reduce or otherwise modify the period of disqualification or the monetary penalties imposed by statute. The Department cannot exercise repayment discretion for fraud overpayments and these amounts are subject to all collection procedures.

(2) Week of Fraud.

(a) A "week of fraud" shall include each week any benefits were received due to fraud. The only exception to this is if the fraud occurred during the waiting week causing the next eligible week to become the new waiting week. In that case, the new waiting week will not be considered as a week of fraud for disqualification purposes. However, because the new waiting week is a non-payable week, any benefits received during that week will be assessed as an overpayment and because the overpayment was as a result of fraud, a fraud penalty will also be assessed.

(b) If a claimant commits a fraudulent act during one week, and benefits are paid in later weeks which would not have been paid but for the original fraud, each week wherein benefits were paid is a week of fraud subject to an overpayment determination, a penalty and a disqualification period.

(c) If the only week of fraud was the waiting week and no benefit payments were made, there will be no disqualification period.

(3) Disqualification Period.

(a) The claimant is ineligible for benefits for a period of 13 weeks for the first week of fraud. For each additional week of fraud, the claimant will be ineligible for benefits for an additional six weeks. The total number of weeks of disqualification will not exceed 49 weeks for each fraud determination. The Department will issue a fraud determination on all weeks of fraud the Department knows about at the time of the determination.

(b) The disqualification period begins the Sunday of the week the fraud determination is made.

(4) Overpayment and Penalty.

(a) For any fraud decision where the initial fraud determination was issued on or before June 30, 2004, the claimant shall repay to the division an overpayment which is equal to the amount of the benefits actually received. In addition, a claimant shall be required to repay, as a civil penalty, the amount of benefits received as a direct result of fraud. "Benefits actually received" means the benefits paid or constructively paid by the Department. Constructively paid refers to benefits used to reduce or off-set an overpayment, deducted at the request of the claimant to pay income taxes, or used as a payment to the Office of Recovery Services for child support obligations or other payments as required by law. For example: The claimant has a weekly benefit amount of $100 and reports no earnings during a week when he or she actually had $50 in reportable earnings. Because a claimant may earn up to 30% of his or her weekly benefit amount with no deduction, the claimant was entitled to receive $80 for that week and was thus overpaid the amount of $20. If the elements of fraud are established, the claimant is disqualified during that week of fraud and all benefits paid for that week are considered an overpayment. The claimant would also be liable to repay, as a civil penalty, the $20 received by direct reason of fraud. Therefore, in this example, the claimant would be liable for a total overpayment and penalty of $120, an amount that would have to be repaid in its entirety before the claimant would be eligible for any further waiting week credit or unemployment benefits. The claimant would also be subject to a 13-week penalty period.

(b) For all fraud decisions where the initial department determination is issued on or after July 1, 2004, the claimant shall repay to the division the overpayment and, as a civil penalty, an amount equal to the overpayment. The overpayment in this subparagraph is the amount of benefits the claimant received by direct reason of fraud. In the example in subsection (3)(a) of this section, the overpayment would be $20 and the penalty would be $20 for a total due of $40. The overpayment and penalty would have to be repaid in its entirety before the claimant would be eligible for any further waiting week credit or unemployment benefits. The claimant would also be subject to a 13-week penalty period.

(5) Additional Penalties. Criminal prosecution of fraud may be pursued as provided by Subsection 35A-4-104(1) in addition to the administrative penalties.