ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 7, 1990                   TAG: 9007070247
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

VEC'S FAKE JOB-SEARCH CLAIMS RISE

The Virginia Employment Commission said it paid more last year in jobless benefits to people who misrepresented their efforts to look for work.

But the incidence of falsification of work search appeared to slow in the last half of 1989 because the VEC increased its investigations, disqualified more claimants for fraud and took other enforcement measures, said Ralph Cantrell, a VEC commissioner.

Benefits paid for fraudulent work-search claims last year were estimated at $14 million, up from $11.1 million in 1988.

The VEC said it installed a toll-free hot line to report suspected fraud and mailed claimants notices stating job search requirements and penalties for providing false information. - Associated Press 


 by CNB