Posts tagged DOL-OIG
Chairman Walberg Calls on DOL IG to Investigate EBSA’s Power Abuse
January 23, 2025 // “As we saw in the first Trump administration, career bureaucrats have sought to undermine the goals of the President and his cabinet Secretaries. We know of cases where bureaucrats have leaked sensitive information or are working with plaintiffs’ attorneys to skew court cases against employers. The Committee’s oversight work recently brought to light how [EBSA] is abusing its authority to secretly share information with class action law firms. This is a blatant abuse of the law, and our Committee will hold EBSA accountable.”
Interview: Independent Contractors and Union Reforms, How @VinnieVernuccio Champions Worker Choice
September 12, 2024 // Unions are stuck in this turn of the last century industrial revolution, a one-size-fits-all adversarial business model that most workers today don't want. I do see a place for unions if they embrace a voluntary business model and become like professional service organizations. Unfortunately, they're not there. If you're under a union contract, you're stuck with the wages, the benefits, the vacations, [and] the hours they negotiate for you. It's actually impossible for the employer to unilaterally say, “you're doing a great job, I'm going to give you a raise,” or “I'm going to give you a bonus,” or, “hey, you want more vacation for a little less money?”
Former UIA contract worker sentenced for stealing taxpayer money
July 19, 2023 // Regulation agents with the UIA’s Fraud and Investigations Division built a detailed case against Semaje Reffigee by identifying irregular claim activity that uncovered a kickback scheme to defraud the agency and Michigan taxpayers. Reffigee is one of nearly 50 fraudsters – four of them former UIA staff or contract workers – who have been convicted of unemployment insurance crimes. Many more cases are pending. In a plea agreement, Reffigee was sentenced in Detroit to 18 months in prison on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for her participation in the pandemic-related unemployment insurance fraud scheme. She was ordered to pay $313,497 in restitution to the state of Michigan. The UIA uses internal and external tools as well as close collaborations with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to file charges and bring suspects to justice. Charges have been brought in more than 100 criminal cases UIA’s investigators have built since March 2020. Once detailed evidence is gathered and suspects identified, agents work with the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General (U.S. DOL-OIG) as well as local, state and federal authorities to prosecute the cases.
DC Corrections Officer Stole Thousands From Union for New York Trip, Broadway Show: DOJ
December 21, 2022 // A D.C. corrections officer was arrested Monday and charged with embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from the union that represents officers with the D.C. Department of Corrections, and authorities say he used some of the money for a trip to New York City. Andra Parker, 64, had access to the D.C. Department of Corrections Labor Committee's bank accounts when he was chairman of the union from June 2018 to May 2019 and stole thousands from the organization during that time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation stated in charging documents filed in federal court. Parker, of Capitol Heights, Maryland, spent $7,000 on a trip to New York City for himself and his friends, charging documents say. The trip included $4,000 on rooms and expenses at a Times Square hotel, more than $370 on a New York Knicks game and $616 on "Summer: The Donna Summer Musical," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a release.