ATLANTA — Georgia’s Labor Commissioner says his predecessor intentionally hid and did not use more than $100 million in Labor Department funding.

Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson told WSB that the actions violated the Georgia Constitution.

Thompson called a news conference at the Department of Labor Headquarters Thursday to announce the results of an interim audit by Georgia’s Department of Audits and Accounts.

“The prior commissioner and at least a few members of his leadership colluded to intentionally avoid properly disclosing over $105 million to the state and federal government,” Thompson said.

Thompson said his staff noticed the potential wrongdoing and called in-state auditors, who have produced an interim audit finding the money was “not remitted to the state treasurer as required,” and that it’s a “violation of the Georgia Constitution.”

As for why, the audit says, “The [former] CFO indicated that GDOL upper management was unhappy about not receiving an appropriation for the entire amount of their administrative assessments, penalties, and interest and intentionally held back the funds.”

95.5 WSB’s Veronica Waters spoke with Thompson recently about his transition into the role of Georgia’s Labor Commissioner. “Because of the pandemic and maybe because of a different direction that the department was going, there had not been reviews on employees since 2019,” Thompson said, when discussing what it has been like to engender trust in his new department.

He added, “It’s very difficult, if you don’t provide feedback and training for individuals for four and a half years, to then expect that they’re going to perform at their highest level.”

Addressing the allegations that he officially announced this week, Thompson said, “It’s important that everyone understands that the safety net from our trust fund is designed at the Department of Labor to provide resources to people that legitimately qualify for unemployment.

“They’ve been separated from their position or their work or their company of no fault of their own.”

Thompson went on to reference an audit from earlier this year that estimates 280 state of Georgia employees received undue jobless benefits during the pandemic. He explained that now they are moving the investigation along in trying to weed out which employees may have unintentionally received those benefits. “This is not a witch hunt by anyone,” Thompson said. “Certainly they don’t want to prosecute someone that was a mistake.”

He added, “But certainly there were some that were very intentional and that’s really what you’re beginning to see uncovered.” Thompson said that when he began his post as Labor Commissioner, he made it very clear he was “looking to root out fraud internally, externally, and beyond our state.”

Thompson said he wanted to work on transparency for an agency that had been “siloed for a number of years, for various reasons.” He added, “We wanted to make sure that we were no longer transactional but we’re relational. So you see the collaboration with the executive branch, the judicial branch, and the legislative branch.”

He underscored that his department wants make sure to “restore some trust and credibility with this agency” both internally and externally, adding that it is “destroying trust when we allow people to fraudulently receive benefits that are really directed or intended for other people.”

Former Labor Commissioner Mark Butler strongly denies Thompson’s most recent allegations. Butler told our partners at Channel 2 Action News in an email:

“Mr. Thompson’s statements are derogatory and false. There is no investigation by the AG’s office. And he did not find these monies through an audit. He was informed by staff that these monies existed, which were handled properly according to legal counsel at DOL during my tenure. This is nothing but political theater based on his personal vendetta against me.”

These are funds that were paid by employers to DOL. Thompson said it was required by law to go to the State Treasury but could have been appropriated back to DOL for administrative costs.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office said it had not opened an investigation but has been in touch with DOAA and DOL.

Thompson said the U.S. Department of Labor and its Inspector General have also been made aware of the audit.

©2023 Cox Media Group