Governor Laura Kelly has stated she takes full responsibility for the numerous errors which have occurred through the Kansas Department of Labor in recent months, including a “clawback” effort which negatively impacted the finances of numerous Kansans.
During her first of two weekly press conferences Monday, the governor announced a serious error had occurred when the Department of Labor initiated a “clawback effort” to reclaim duplicate payments made to 4,500 claimants totaling close to $7 million which were issued on Jun. 10.
Kelly says the decision to initiate the clawback was made without her office’s consent and after Kelly’s staff directed the KDOL not to move forward with the process.
Kelly adds not only will her office be working to restore the lost funds to affected Kansans, but the state will also cover all overdraft charges which resulted due to the clawback.
Kelly’s comments come after she formally accepted KDOL Secretary Delia Garcia’s resignation on Sunday. More information on Garcia’s resignation is available by clicking here.
Separately Monday, Governor Kelly stated recent COVID-19 metrics have begun to trend upwards once again after going the opposite direction for a number of recent weeks. Kelly says the uptick occurred after May 27 when the Ad Astra reopening plan officially became an advisory document.
Due to the recent shift in trends, Governor Kelly made the strong recommendation that all Kansas counties remain in phase three of the Ad Astra plan for the time being.
Governor Kelly is scheduled to hold her next press conference at 4 pm on Thursday. You can listen to that conference in its entirety on KVOE 1400 AM, 96.9 FM and KVOE.com.
