Fraud concerns delay thousands of unemployment claims

Thousands of Montanans are waiting to receive emergency government assistance as the Montana Department of Labor and Industry grapples with an onslaught of fraud attempts on the state’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program.

In April, PUA payments first started going out to Montanans who have lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic but were not eligible for traditional unemployment insurance, such as gig workers and independent contractors...