State unemployment office adds portal for Ohioans to report fraud as agents prepare to send out tax documents

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Ohioans who suspect they are a victim of fraud within Ohio’s Unemployment system can now report it directly to the state through an online portal.

The button on the front of the state’s unemployment website went live Wednesday.

According to the Director of Ohio’s Job and Family Services, Kim Henderson, several Ohioans who don’t know it right now, may realize they are victims when 1099 tax forms come out.

Henderson says the office is expected to send 1.7 million 1099 forms out by the end of January.

Additionally, the state has created a new section of its website to specifically provide updates on how the new stimulus bill passed in December is affecting the unemployment system.

The most recent update reads, “PUA claims can be filed for weeks prior to December 27. In addition, claimants who had not exhausted the original 39 weeks provided by the CARES Act may now file weekly claims and receive payment. New claims cannot yet be filed because system programming is needed to implement the new program integrity requirements and make the additional 11 weeks available. All claimants will receive all benefits for which they are eligible”

Henderson says Ohio is beginning to send out the additional $300 payments provided in the last stimulus bill.

The new section of the website also allows claimants to see the state’s goals set for updates to the system that will allow the state to come into compliance with the new federal law.

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