Tsernoglou Challenges Woolford Clash During UIA Testimony

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/14/2026) Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) directly challenged the chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on whether he would support Senate-passed legislation that would stop the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) from collecting non-fraud payments improperly paid out during COVID.

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) has already made it clear he's not interested in the bill, SB700, but Tsernoglou took time during the subcommittee's hearing with UIA Director Jason Palmer to ask Chair Jason Woolford (R-Howell) what he thought about the bill and two similar House bills (HB5393 and HB5394).

Woolford responded that the hearing was intended to focus on Palmer’s testimony, not his own legislative positions.

“If you have questions on what I support legislatively, we can talk about that offline,” Woolford said.

At that point the exchange went as follows:

Woolford: Let's keep to the issue at hand.

Tsernoglou: I believe that that is the issue at hand.

Woolford: Well, I believe it wasn't. Thank you.

Tsernoglou: What do you believe the issue would be then?

Woolford: Representative, you're out of order.

Tsernoglou: I'm simply asking a question, but I appreciate your opinion.

Woolford: This committee will go at ease. This committee will come back to order. Director Palmer, I apologize for the interruption and, quite honestly, on the professionalism here. So, with that said . . .

Tsernoglou: Excuse me, that's extremely rude, Chair Woolford. I think we've had enough of this from you.

Woolford: You're out of order. We'll go at ease.

Tsernoglou: I'm done asking questions. You can just continue with the hearing without personally insulting me.

Outside this exchange, much of Thursday’s hearing centered on the agency’s collections process after a years-long court injunction paused recovery efforts tied to pandemic unemployment claims.

Palmer said the agency has collected roughly $60 million in overpayments since collections resumed and has waived another $46 million through hardship waivers. He said claimants currently receiving collection notices are individuals who received benefits they were not entitled to receive, including those who failed to verify employment, misreported earnings or did not complete required work searches.

At the same time, Palmer stressed that not every overpayment case involves misuse.

“Not all of those people are fraudsters,” Palmer said. “Some of those people misreported or misrepresented their attachment to the workforce, but it wouldn't rise necessarily to the level of fraud.”

Woolford repeatedly emphasized the need to balance accountability for fraud with fairness for claimants who were caught in administrative confusion during the pandemic. He talked about his bill, HB5375, which would forgive interest and penalties tied to certain unemployment overpayments while still requiring repayment of the principal balance.

“We’ll be putting forth legislation that I believe every person should be able to get behind in forgiving that interest and penalty during that time for those who obviously suffered for no cause of their own,” he said.

After answering more questions about why the UIA was now collecting overpayments on unemployment claims, Palmer again told Woolford that the UIA couldn’t collect any payments because of a court injunction.

Woolford asked Palmer why the UIA was charging 1% interest and Palmer told him it was because of a statutory requirement that 1% was charged.

The statutory requirement falls under the Michigan Employment Security Act, also known as Public Act 1 of 1936. The “chargeable benefits component” is the percentage of the taxable wage base that corresponds to the benefits actually paid during the quarter.