Page 12 - BusinessWest November 9, 2020

Editorial
ABChain Reaction of Impact
BusinessWest
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ack in 2007, BusinessWest launched its 40 Under Forty Massachusetts, who has devoted her professional life to under- recognition program to celebrate the achievements of standing the issues and challenges facing women and girls, and the region’s rising stars. A couple years later, it created finding proactive ways to address them.
Difference Makers, which recognizes individuals who are, well, And Christina Royal, president of Holyoke Community College,
making a difference in their communities. The Healthcare Heroes awards followed three years ago, recognizing high achievers in that important sector.
Clearly, we love identifying and writing about people and orga- nizations that deserve the attention; we’re as inspired writing those stories as you (hopefully) are when you read them.
Plenty of women have been honored by all three programs — in many years, in fact, women comprise a majority of winners. So why did we launch the Women of Impact program in 2018? Is it really necessary?
In a word, yes. First of all, while there are many women of achievement in this region — and have been for a long time — not enough of them have received the recognition they are due.
But another reason, one that has become more clear over the first three cohorts of Women of Impact, is that this program spot- lights ways in which honorees not only shine on their own, but help other women do the same.
In this year’s class alone, you can read about Carol Campbell, president of Chicopee Industrial Contractors, who has not only personally mentored many women over the years, but cultivated a management team entirely made up of women — in an industry still dominated by men.
And Pattie Hallberg, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Central & Western
Opinion
who understands how critical an affordable college education is to women, including low-income women, women of color, and work- ing mothers, many of whom have been thrown for a loop by the pandemic and recession, and rely on HCC’s support to stay on their degree path.
The stories go on, in many cases echoing the honorees’ desire not only to succeed in life, but to make sure women following behind them have the tools they need to do the same and, in turn, inspire the next generation.
This is not the easiest time for women in the workforce. In fact, in September, about 617,000 women stopped working — about eight women for every man who dropped out, in fact — partly due to competing demands from home, especially young kids who need support with remote learning.
Even during more, well, normal times, BusinessWest has long told the stories of not only women who are helping their peers nav- igate challenges, but organizations like the Women’s Fund of West- ern Massachusetts, Dress for Success Western Massachusetts, Girls Inc. of the Valley, and so many more who’ve made it their mission to help women succeed, now and in the future.
In short, women in this region are making an impact every day. We’re honored to be able to tell some of their stories. u
How to Handle Unemployment Fraud
SBy Chris Geehern
tate officials and Massachusetts
employers continue to deal with a
surge of fraudulent unemployment- insurance claims generated as part of a national scheme using stolen personal information to attempt to access jobless benefits.
Criminal enterprises with access to stolen personal information from prior national data breaches have been taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic by attempting to file large numbers of unem- ployment-benefit claims through the Mas- sachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) system.
DUA revealed in July that 58,000 fraudu- lent claims had been detected, preventing the loss of $158 million. At the time, the Department of Labor said it was working with the state and federal law enforcement to investigate the fraud and hired a pri- vate accounting firm to perform a forensic audit. Now, fake unemployment claims are on the rise once again as scammers appear to be targeting public employees.
Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) has also continued to receive reports from member companies about fraudulent unemployment claims. Companies report in some cases that employees have been unaware that a fraudulent claim has been filed in their names and are thus unable
to bring the scam to the attention of their employers.
Employees and employers should work together to address the scam by reviewing a set of online identity-fraud tools developed by DUA. Meanwhile, state officials are pro- viding guidance to employers on how each of the following situations where there is a questionable claim should be handled.
If an employer has received a ‘Confir- mation of Employment’ letter, complete the form online. If the person still works for you, select ‘still employed part-time,’ even if the person is a full-time employ- ee. If the person never worked for you, select ‘The claimant did not work for me during the time period stated.” The employer should encourage the employ- ee to file a fraud report and follow the guidance at www.mass.gov/info-details/ report-unemployment-benefits-fraud.
If an employer has received a ‘Lack of Work’ letter for an employee who either has never worked for the company or is employed by the company without any break in service for the past year, follow the same instructions as for a ‘Confirmation of Employment’ letter.
If the employer or employee is respond- ing to a ‘Fact Finding Letter,’ complete
the form as provided. Employers should inform employees who had a claim filed
without their permission to visit the web- site noted above to report the fraudulent claim and find information and advice on other things they should do to protect their identity.
If an employer has received a ‘Mon- etary Determination’ with which they dis- agree, encourage the employee to file a fraud report and follow the guidance at the website.
If an employer is protesting a claim a result of a ‘Benefit Charge Statement’ they are in disagreement with, protests can only be filed online and not by any other mechanisms. On the online form, enter
a comment saying ‘fraudulent claim’ and then provide information why you believe the claim was fraudulent (for example, the claimant still works for our company, and when we spoke to the claimant, they said they never filed a claim).
In a case where both the employer and the employee acknowledge the claim was not filed by the employee, the employer should fill in the protest form using their UI Online account, and the employee should file a fraud report and follow the guidance at the website noted above. v
Chris Geehern is executive vice president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts.
12 NOVEMBER 9, 2020
OPINION
BusinessWest