Newly elected Georgia Department of Labor Commissioner Bruce Thompson acknowledges the crowd after his inauguration Jan. 12. 

ATLANTA — When elected to the labor commissioner role in November 2022, Bruce Thompson said he was aware of the Georgia Department of Labor’s woes that included antiquated technology, poor morale and financial struggles.

He was elected following a lawsuit against GDOL for backlogged and delayed unemployment claims throughout the pandemic.

Under a settlement agreement approved in June 2022, the GDOL — which administers unemployment insurance, employment service and training programs, and provides labor reports and workforce information — agreed to enhance and improve communication systems, including the implementation of artificial intelligence to streamline the call process.

Shortly after being sworn in as commissioner in January, Thompson said his suspicions of a previously mismanaged department led him to request an internal investigation of the finance department to be conducted by the department’s internal legal team.

That recently concluded internal audit uncovered more than $105 million in unremitted funds —or funds received in excess amount of the actual amounts from overpayments and fees — that began accumulating in fiscal year 2014 under the leadership of former labor commissioner Mark Butler, a Republican who was elected to the position in 2010. He did not to seek reelection last year.

“The results confirmed our suspicions and led me to engage the state auditor and request additional assistance, and [address] our concerns with ambiguous sources of monies that were identified within this agency,” Thompson said at a press conference Aug. 10.

Thompson said the investigation is still ongoing and information is not yet conclusive as several GDOL files are missing or unavailable.

“(The findings) do reveal that over a period of the last nine years, 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 the audit shows that since 2014, a combination of three different funds were commingled and “carefully hidden” in the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund where they were mischaracterized and undetected, and that in August 2020, nearly $49 million was transferred out of that trust fund just before it became insolvent due to the effects of COVID-19 to prevent the federal government from drawing these funds down to paying benefits.

Some of monies could now be at risk of being taken back by the federal government, Thompson said. 

“The funds were transferred to the GDOL administrative account for a few days and then transferred again to the unemployment tax clearing account where it grew without interest,” Thompson said. “I’d like to highlight that the movement of these funds to a no-interest bearing account cost the state millions of dollars.”

Nearly two years — 680 days — later, the $105 million was transferred back to the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund, where it again began drawing interest, according to Thompson.

The breakdown of the funds included more than $20.8 million in administrative assessment fees, more than $63.1 million in employer penalty fees and more than $21.2 million in interest.

On Aug. 3, current Labor Commissioner Bruce Thompson authorized the transfer of funds to the Georgia Department of Treasury as required by law. The timing, Thompson said, aligns with the state treasury’s fiscal year, allowing the funds to be included in its current budget.

Thompson did not comment on whether he believes his predecessor committed a crime in allegedly signing off on the aforementioned transferred funds, but said that violating the Constitution and oath itself is a crime, adding that “no one is above the law.”

Thompson said he was unsure what was to gain for those allegedly involved in the mishandling of the GDOL funds.

“I think anyone that would avoid the constitutional requirement to submit it, that would sign documents that would state otherwise and all the other activities that are very clearly outlined not only in this report and others — that’s a question for the individuals that were involved in doing it,” Thompson said. “I would see no reason that you would ever violate that, because it will come to light.”

According to a summary of the findings of the audit, State Auditor Greg Griffin said the (then) chief financial officer of the GDOL was questioned as to why all of the collected funds had not been remitted to the State Treasury. The (then) 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.