The Benefit Payment Control (BPC) unit protects the citizens and employers of Colorado and the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Program by ensuring claimant and employer compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Among other roles, BPC is responsible for pursuing and collecting all overpayments to claimants. The overpaid monies are credited to employers' UI premium accounts that were charged with the UI benefit payments and to the UI Trust Fund.
Most importantly, BPC monitors UI claims past and present to make sure benefits are properly paid. Through detection programs and random audits, BPC establishes overpayments and, when applicable, identifies and prevents acts of fraud by both claimants and employers.
Detecting and prosecuting fraud is a high priority for Colorado's UI Program. As stated in the Colorado Employment Security Act 8-81-101, BPC has the authority to prosecute fraud.
A claimant who knowingly makes a false statement or withholds information to receive UI benefits is committing an act of fraud. The penalty for this type of fraud can include a 4-week postponement of future UI benefits for each week in which the person fraudulently requested the payment of UI benefits. A person who commits this type of fraud must also repay the entire amount of UI benefits fraudulently received and pay a monetary penalty of 50 percent of the total overpaid amount. Additional collection activities may include civil and criminal prosecution, including court costs, fines, and/or imprisonment.
An employer who knowingly makes a false statement or causes a false statement to be made as to the reason for a job separation from employment, which causes a delay in the proper payment of UI benefits to a claimant, is committing an act of fraud. An employer who commits this type of fraud is charged with one and one-half times the amount of UI benefits that should have been paid to the claimant during the period of delay and with 100 percent of all other UI benefits paid to the claimant thereafter during the claimant's benefit year. These penalties are in addition to any civil and criminal prosecution, including court costs, fines, and/or imprisonment.
If you know of an individual or a company that may be defrauding the UI Program and/or may warrant further investigation, please complete the online fraud-reporting form. The source of the information is kept confidential. To ensure successful and thorough investigations, you should provide as much detail as possible when completing the form.
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment
Unemployment Insurance Integrity, Benefit Payment Control
P.O. Box 8789
Denver, CO 80201-8789
303-318-9035 (Denver-metro area)
1-877-464-4622 (outside Denver-metro area)
Fax: 303-318-9037
E-mail: UIBPC.CDLE@state.co.us