To the editor:

A recent story in your newspaper asserted the Kansas Department of Labor overpaid more than $95 million in unemployment benefits. I felt it was important to provide your readers a more thorough explanation of the unemployment “overpayments” cited in Kansas.

In 2004, the Kansas Department of Labor paid almost $300 million in unemployment benefits on the more than 144,000 claims filed. Of that, only approximately $7 million was attributed to fraud. Reports from the U.S. Department of Labor indicate Kansas does much better than most states in the country at tracking fraud and we continually exceed federal standards for recovering monies obtained through fraudulent means.

The remaining “overpayments” cited in a U.S. Department of Labor report are attributed to technical processing errors. Let me be clear: These do not involve payments to individuals who were not eligible for unemployment. The report cited registration for job services with public workforce centers as the primary reason for most of these processing errors. There are numerous reasons why some unemployed individuals may not complete the process to register for job services, but the primary reason is due to the overly cumbersome registration process in Kansas.

In contrast to the picture painted in the recent article, Kansas is working hard to ensure that unemployment benefits are paid only to those who are eligible. We are continually working to improve the unemployment insurance system in Kansas and will build on the progress already started.

Jim Garner, secretary,

Kansas Department of Labor