Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed an executive order to, in part, create a new Unemployment Insurance Appeals Commission.
This comes after tens of thousands of Michigan residents were falsely accused of unemployment insurance fraud due to a computer error.
Whitmer says the old system was not efficient. It combined workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance appeals.
“What’s very clear is that there are areas that need to be improved. And this I think is a smart way of ensuring that we’ve got experts that can tackle the issues that are being brought before them.”
This is part of a restructuring of the state’s department in charge of workforce and economic development. Whitmer’s executive order consolidates several offices. The department will now be called the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity – or Leo.