AWARDS & RECOGNITION

2003 Awards: Digital Government: Government to Business (G to B)

RECIPIENT:
Michigan
Employer Filed Claims Project

Karen Faulk

The Employer Filed Claims system allows employers to electronically submit an unemployment claim on behalf of a laid-off worker. The major presence of the Big 3 automakers in Michigan often meant long delays for workers in receiving unemployment checks during periods of mass layoffs (typically during model changeovers). These layoffs resulted in long lines at branch offices, and tremendous amounts of time manually processing paper filed claims (and correcting claims filed in error). This increased workload on unemployment claimant workers was significantly exasperated with the Summer 2002 early retirement program offered to State of Michigan employees. Upwards of 50% of unemployment claims workers took advantage of this early retirement option.

"Employer Filed Claims for our big five—Ford, GM, DCX, Delphi and Visteon —is a picture perfect model for a public private partnership. Unemployed workers save up to 6 hours of office waiting, driving and forms filling while employers can fully automate timely supplemental payments to workers." David Plawecki, Deputy Director, Consumer and Industry Services

To help employees receive payments faster, simplify the reporting burden on businesses, and to mitigate the impact of early retirement, The State of Michigan has developed a system that allows employers to electronically submit unemployment claims on behalf of their workers—Employer Filed Claims (EFC). This system has made Michigan a leader in Government to Business interaction for the following reasons:

• Government operations have improved by dramatically reducing paperwork and manual processing steps. Over 80,000 face-to-face intake interviews and companion paper forms were eliminated by having companies submit claims electronically for their employees.
• Benefits accrued to all parties—the employer, the employee and government. Prior to EFC, companies would need to complete a form for every employee laid off. The time and costs required to complete and mail in the form have been eliminated. Employees receive their checks faster and do not have to file a claim face-to-face. Government has been able to reduce staff costs while speeding-up delivery of services.
• There has been a large return on investment for this project. Businesses personnel offices have avoided the expense of preparing individual forms for each person they lay off. Follow-up mailing, verifications and error corrections between government and business have been eliminated. The State of Michigan has been able to reduce staff intake costs and close branch offices by migrating to a paperless, face-less claiming strategy.

OTHER NOMINATIONS:
Click on the link to download program submission.

Alabama
Electronic Tax Filing and Payment Program

Arkansas
Income and Sales Tax Processing and Imaging System

Florida
MyFlorida.com

Hawaii
Annual Business Registration

Idaho
Court Access to Driver License Records

Indiana
Indiana Licensing Portal

Kansas
KSBusinessCenter - One-Stop Online Business Resource

Missouri
Missouri Public Service Commission's (MoPSC) Electronic Filing and Information System - EFIS

Montana
Registered Principal Search

Nebraska
Nebrask@ Online for Business

North Carolina
NC Department of Revenue Sales and Use Online Filing and Payment

Ohio
Ohio Business Gateway

Oklahoma
e-Grants

Texas
Long Term Care Regulatory Web Accessible Facility EnRollment (WAFER)

Utah
Utah Agent Hunting and Fishing Online

Virginia
VATAX Online for Businesses

Washington
Child Support Internal Payment Service

Wisconsin
Emergency Medical Services System (EMSS)

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