Michigan’s third unemployment director since 2020 is stepping down

• Julia Dale, director of the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency, will step down for private sector role in January
• Dale, appointed in October 2021, told staff she feels ‘immense gratitude and pride’ for reforms during her tenure
• The agency continues to face stiff scrutiny after failing to stop a deluge of fraudulent claims during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency Director Julia Dale will resign early next year for a role in the private sector, marking the latest leadership change for a long-embattled agency.

In a letter addressed to agency staff obtained by Bridge Michigan Monday, Dale wrote that she’s out effective Jan. 3, to serve as CEO of Civilla, a Detroit-based design and research nonprofit that received some $330,000 to redesign Michigan’s public benefits application forms. 

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed Dale in October 2021. An agency spokesperson confirmed the job is expected to be posted as early as Monday afternoon.

At the time of her appointment, Dale was the 11th director named to lead the UIA in as many years and the third since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which compounded ongoing dysfunction in the department as the state’s unemployment rate skyrocketed. 

In announcing her pending resignation, Dale told agency staff she was proud of what was accomplished during her tenure, noting that she feels “immense gratitude and pride” about tackling the pandemic backlog and wide-ranging unemployment system upgrades. 

“When I joined the UIA, I knew we could – and needed to – bring change and modernization to the agency,” she wrote in a letter obtained by Bridge. “We have transformed a once-battered agency into something extraordinary – a national model for fast, fair, and fraud-free service.”

Related:

• After billions in fraud payouts, Michigan unemployment agency declares new day
• Michigan Senate OKs unemployment boost with expanded, extended benefits

The agency continues to face stiff scrutiny after failing to stop a deluge of fraudulent claims during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Multiple state audits found the UIA didn’t do enough to protect taxpayer information or identify potential fraud when handling unemployment claims. 

A third-party audit from the Deloitte accounting firm estimated that UIA missteps cost the state an estimated $8.5 billion between March 2020 and September 2021.

Dale told lawmakers this spring that the agency has implemented many improvements, including a new system to process claims that is coming online in 2025, firing or moving 23 employees for “violating policies involving potential implications” and growing the unemployment trust fund to $2.3 billion to ensure solvency.

At the time, she said she hoped the state could move beyond the pandemic era, telling lawmakers that “nobody is served if we continue to rehash the past and lose focus on the future.”

Republican lawmakers remain concerned and have sought more accountability and oversight of the agency to ensure that what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic can’t happen again.

Senate Democrats last week approved legislation establishing additional guardrails around who can access unemployment benefits as part of a package that would also expand the length of eligibility and increase maximum weekly payouts. 

Supporters claimed the bills would help limit fraud and ensure benefits are limited to people who are actively trying to get a new job. Republicans and business groups, meanwhile, argued the UIA continues to face “big challenges” that wouldn’t be solved by the proposed reforms.