As if things were not bad enough for Americans who have lost their jobs and are among those lucky enough to be eligible for unemployment benefits, one company has become adept at keeping many of them from actually collecting on that lifeline. They've done it, according The New York Times, through a combination of delays, failure to show up at hearings, bogus appeals and other chicanery, including outright lies and fraud. The company reportedly handles 30 percent of all the nation's jobless claims. Jason DeParle writes:
The work has made Talx a boom business in a bust economy, but critics say the company has undermined a crucial safety net. Officials in a number of states have called Talx a chronic source of error and delay. Advocates for the unemployed say the company seeks to keep jobless workers from collecting benefits. ...
Wisconsin officials were among the first to complain, passing a law in 2005 to prevent what they called a common Talx practice: failing to respond to requests for information, only to appeal when workers got benefits. ...
Indeed, years of e-mail messages, obtained through an open records law, show a continually exasperated Wisconsin staff. While a few cited improved performance, others complained that Talx "returned half-empty questionnaires," sent back "minimal or ‘junk’ info," reported in error that applicants were dead, filed "frivolous protests" and caused "the holdup of many claims." ...
Joseph Walsh, deputy director of Iowa’s employment security agency, said, "We are more likely to see a claim of misconduct that is completely unsupported by the factual record" when agents are involved.
Good ol' American entrepreneurialism at work. And lucrative, too. The guys who started Talx gobbled up seven companies in five years, then sold the blend three years ago for $1.4 billion. There are, of course, men and women in the hallowed halls of Congress who no doubt cheer the efforts this company makes. After all, they agree with their ideological predecessors of 75 years ago who fought against creating a benefits program for the jobless in the first place. Like Talx, they'll do just about anything to keep Americans on the ropes from getting relief since they view the benefits as creating lazy Americans, "hobos," as Nevada Rep. Dean Heller said six weeks ago.
Hilda Solis has put together a good team of investigators at the Department of Labor. She should send a couple of them in Talx's direction.