- April 25, 2024
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Flagler Schools — along with a number of other government institutions — is facing unemployment fraud, district staff members told School Board members during a March 23 board workshop.
"Unemployment fraud is rampant throughout the whole nation," district Finance Director Patricia Wormeck said at the workshop. "I don't know any school district that has not taken a hit."
The district's average quarterly claims are around $5,000, she said. Since COVID began, they've been about S100,000.
"Unemployment fraud is rampant throughout the whole nation. I don't know any school district that has not taken a hit."
— PATRICIA WORMECK, district finance director
The state has fallen behind on handling district-related unemployment claims, she said. Typically, their turnaround time is one and a half to two months.
But in the last quarter of the last fiscal year, the district didn't receive the claims from the state until almost November of the current fiscal year.
"What we found on these claims is there are a lot of substitutes that put in for a claim; we had people who didn’t even work here anymore that retired way before COVID that put in a claim," Wormeck said. "It is all over the place."
The district's human resources staff is hoping to protest those claims. But as straightforward as the fraud in some cases may be, it places the district in a difficult position:
The district is given eight days after the bill is generated to pay the claims, Wormeck said, which would mean that the district will have to pay it before the fraud complaints are handled. It typically takes several quarters for the district to receive reimbursement, Wormeck said.
The district can't withhold payment without risking its credit rating, Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt said.
"We can not do that," she said.
In the meantime, the district loses the money.
As of the workshop, Wormeck wasn't sure exactly how much money the district would be protesting.
"School districts everywhere are dealing with it," she said.
