Delaware’s Unemployment Insurance Fund is not auditable, but the Department of Labor reported it will be by the end of the fiscal year.
As it stands, the Unemployment Fund is solvent and accessible, according to the state’s Department of Labor.
Even so, it’s deemed unauditable because state auditors haven’t been able to obtain enough evidence and data to put an audit together.
Delaware Labor Secretary LaKresha Moultrie said her department is pursuing modernization, but she isn’t waiting for that to have the Unemployment Fund pass an audit.
“We can't be distracted by modernization because that can take 18 months,” Moultrie said. “What we have to do is focus on training, retention, strengthening our policies and protocols so that we're doing our jobs well, therefore clearing out the backlog, therefore making sure that our financials are spot on with regard to the audit.”
Moving forward, Moultrie said DOL must avoid allowing its systems to become antiquated and make modernization a normal part of operation.
And the DOL Division of Unemployment Insurance spent approximately $26 million on modernization efforts.
Moultrie added DOL restarted its modernization efforts with the Unemployment Fund and expects to have a new tax system in place by the end of the year. She also said the Unemployment Fund will come out with a clean audit at the end of Fiscal Year 2026.
The Labor Dept. paused its modernization efforts for unemployment insurance to focus on paid family medical leave, which is now up and running.
“That system is working well, and we're continuing to make improvements as we're getting feedback from various stakeholders,” Moultrie said. “The other side of that is we've decided to move forward with modernizing our tax system first, so the side of unemployment insurance where employers pay into the funds so that people can then collect their benefits.”
Since restarting the modernization process with Infosys, Moultrie said DOL expects to have the tax system completed before the end of the calendar year.
