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Judge: Suit over false jobless fraud can proceed in Michigan

unemployment
Posted at 9:56 PM, Mar 27, 2021
and last updated 2021-03-27 21:56:11-04

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that Michigan residents whose unemployment claims were wrongfully rejected as fraudulent by a computer system can sue the system’s developers and state officials.

Five plaintiffs sued two companies and five state employees in 2017, alleging the staffers’ actions and flaws with the automated computer system put them at financial risk and even bankruptcy.

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed one plaintiff and three defendants but ruled that the case will move forward.

State officials say that as many as 40,000 Michigan residents were possibly wrongly accused of fraud by a computer system that had an error rate as high as 93%.