Brian Hagberg
WARREN, Pa. – When the Warren County Commissioners learned last week that they had a lien placed on them for owed unemployment compensation taxes, they moved quickly to rectify the situation.
The bill, they learned, was for a grand total of . . . 88 cents.
“The lien originated from unpaid unemployment compensation claims in 2019, around the time the Commonwealth released a new online UC system,” the Commissioners said in a news release. “Before Warren County was given access to the system, payments in the amount of about $15,000 went unpaid, perhaps due to staff turnover.”
The 88 cents has been paid, and the Warren County Commissioners no longer appear on the DLI’s Unemployment Compensation Non-Compliance list as of Feb. 8.
“Having met with our staff, the Commissioners have every confidence that Human Resources has rectified the immediate problem,” said Commissioner Tricia Durbin.
Finance and Administration Director Lisa Hagberg said the $15,000 lien, which the county was made aware of by the Warren County Prothonotary in May 2021, was one of the first issues she dealt with when she arrived at the county.
“I got right on the phone and started working out details,” Hagberg told Your Daily Local. “I found out we did owe money. We set up payments and made the final payment in December 2021.”
Yet when the list, created by Governor Tom Wolf’s Executive Order issued on Oct. 21, 2021, was published on Jan. 31, the Warren County Commissioners were on it.
“As soon as we found out about the unpaid 88-cents (through the news), staff paid the remaining balance in full,” Hagberg said. “The sum of less than a dollar was probably residual interest.”
The Commissioners also said they only learned about the outstanding balance because the list was published by the state and some local news organizations and were not given prior notice.
“The Warren County Commissioners have every intention of paying legitimate unemployment compensation claims in a timely manner,” said Commissioner Jeff Eggleston. “We apologize for the 88-cent clerical error. With that in mind, we would ask Labor and Industry to work with us and notify us of issues in a timely manner.”
DLI Press Secretary Alex Peterson told Your Daily Local every organization on the state’s list had not only been given notice of delinquency but additional notice the list would be published.
“The Department of Labor and Industry regularly notifies organizations of their obligations following a labor law violation,” Peterson said. “Every organization on the Worker Protection and Labor Law Non-Compliance List has received correspondence from the department indicating their out-of-compliance status and obligations under the law. In fact, prior to publishing the public list, the department additionally notified organizations of the department’s plan to publish the list.”
Commissioner Ben Kafferlin strongly denied that notice had been given, and questioned why the state was worried about a bill of less than $1 when other, larger-sum issues remain unresolved.
“In my opinion, this latest effort on the part of the Commonwealth to be ‘transparent’ has only furthered to reinforce the public’s impression of bureaucratic incompetence,” Kafferlin said. “While haggling over a sum less than $1, and no prior notice about the outstanding balance, there remains about $10,000 in fraudulent claims against Warren County that Labor and Industry have yet to resolve after more than six months.”
According to the Commissioners, approximately a dozen fraudulent unemployment compensation claims were filed against Warren County in 2021 after the state’s new UC system was compromised. Three of those claims remain unresolved.
