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FACT BRIEF

Have former Nevada unemployment agency leaders spoken out against the state's handling of unemployment claims during COVID-19?

By Todd Butterworth
View this fact brief on The Nevada Independent
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YES

Multiple former leaders from Nevada’s unemployment agency have spoken with the media to express frustration with how state leadership handled the huge number of unemployment claims filed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, shortly after the pandemic led state and national leaders to shut down nonessential businesses, Nevada had the nation’s highest unemployment rate. The large number of claims also came with a large amount of fraud: at one point, Nevada’s state agency that handles unemployment claims had received more claims than the number of Nevadans in the workforce.

During a five-month period in 2020, four high-level staff at the agency resigned or were fired. Two former top-level employees gave public interviews in 2022 criticizing the decision-making in Governor Steve Sisolak’s office. 

See a full discussion of this at The Nevada Independent
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
KTNV TIMELINE: Nevada Dept. of Employment and handling of pandemic unemployment claims
KTNV Former insiders dispute DETR claim computer system is antiquated
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The Nevada Independent
The Nevada Independent is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news and opinion website founded in 2017 by veteran political journalist and commentator Jon Ralston. The site and its supporting channels are focused on ethical, unbiased and transparent journalism. In general, we aim to gather and disseminate important public information and increase civic engagement. We are supported by corporate donations, memberships, event ticket sales and sponsorships and foundation grants. We disclose all our members and donors. Donors have no influence over our content, ever. The Nevada Independent is the dba for Nevada News Bureau, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2010 by Elizabeth Thompson, who now serves as one of The Nevada Independent's managing directors and its Editor.
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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.