Judges feel pressured after blasting Michigan jobless agency
LANSING — Michigan's administrative law judges were among the first to sound the alarm about a $47-million automated system that falsely accused tens of thousands of unemployment insurance claimants of fraud.
Records obtained by the Free Press show that managers at the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency complained repeatedly to a top official of the Michigan Administrative Hearing System, who, in turn, pressured administrative law judges who were too critical of the agency and its automated system, called MiDAS (Michigan Integrated Data Automated System).
One judge complained he was placed on an Unemployment Insurance Agency "hit list" and then banned from hearing fraud cases, records show. In another instance, a UI Agency attorney complained to an agency director about a judge who strongly criticized MiDAS and asked that "appropriate action" be taken against the judge.
The e-mails and judges' written decisions — some obtained under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act and others from a state government insider — raise concerns about interference in the hearing system and the independence of the state's administrative law judges.
Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/07/02/judges-michigan-jobless-agency/423502001/