KENTUCKY — From thousands of people going unpaid to reports of fraud, Kentucky's Unemployment Office has had several problems over the last year.

Now, a new audit is revealing a new problem – staff accessing their own accounts.

State Auditor of Public Accounts Mike Harmon, R, is following the data shares during this In Focus Kentucky segment. The Fiscal Year 2020 audit contains 21 findings, which include five repeat findings from the Volume Two SSWAK audit for Fiscal Year 2019, and five findings carried forward from the Volume One SSWAK audit for Fiscal Year 2020. All five of the findings carried forward from the Fiscal Year 2020 audit deal with issues identified within Kentucky’s UI system and the Office of Unemployment Insurance (OUI).

“Based on the issues we found with the UI system, my office is issuing an adverse opinion on Kentucky’s compliance with federal unemployment insurance program requirements,” said Harmon. “In common terms, an adverse opinion is the worst opinion that can be issued for an audit. It is extremely rare for an adverse opinion to be issued on an audit. As our previous report detailed, there was a systemic failure of leadership that sacrificed program integrity in the early weeks of the pandemic in an effort to pay claims more quickly. It is a case of good intentions leading to very bad results.” 

You can review the Volume Two SSWAK report here. Volume one of the SSWAK, which Auditor Harmon’s office released in February, can be viewed here.