12/2/16
by News Department on 12/02/16Argall/Knowles push investigation...
State Sen. David G. Argall, R-Schuylkill/Berks, and state Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Berks/Carbon/Schuylkill, are calling on the Attorney General, Auditor General and Inspector General to investigate exhausted funds leading to the anticipated layoff of 600 call center employees within the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
A 2013 law allowed for a temporary four-year transfer of UC funds to the Unemployment Compensation Service and Infrastructure Improvement Fund as a result of reduced federal funds to pay for call center employees.
House Bill 2375 would allow the department to transfer $57.5 million collected by the Unemployment Compensation Fund.
In a letter sent to Attorney General Bruce Beemer, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and Acting Inspector General Tyrone Powell, Argall and Knowles ask for an investigation into how the Department of Labor and Industry spent funding transferred from the Unemployment Compensation Fund to the Unemployment Compensation Service and Infrastructure Improvement Fund over the past four years.
They also ask the investigation to include whether or not the money was used as prescribed by law.
