Ohio To Stop Cutting Off Benefits For Non-Working Employees After Hacker Spams Unemployment Website

Ohio has reconsidered its choice to stop paying unemployment benefits to people who refuse to go back to work after a hacker spammed its website page that tracked non-working employees. According to Vice, the state set up a website that encouraged employers to report “fraud” employees who refused to return to work, catching the attention of employees and labor rights advocates.

COVID-19 has forced millions out of their jobs and into their homes in order to curve the spread of the virus. However, since the government has begun to force re-openings around the country, despite not having an approved vaccination or proper testing, many have chosen to not go back to their jobs out of fear endangering themselves. Because of this, many continue to collect unemployment benefits. Essentially, this has peeved off some employers, who have been contacting Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) to report employees who refuse to work, in an attempt to have their benefits cut off.

Ohio created a submission form or “script” that encouraged employers to report employees who refused to work. The script started circling around social media earlier this week; the script automatically fills out a “fraud reporting” form on Ohio’s unemployment insurance website. But apparently, someone was tired of Ohio’s antics and decided to play vigilante and save people from having their benefits denied. According to Vice, an anonymous hacker released a code that let anyone automatically submit spam data to Ohio’s form. The hacker’s goal was to flood the site with so many fraud submissions that it makes it more difficult for claims to be processed and ultimately block the state from halting people’s benefits. “It’s easy enough to go to the page and fill it out, but that wouldn’t amount to enough data to make these particular gears of the state grind to a halt,” the unknown hacker told Motherboard in an email. “It needs to be so much data that their ability to investigate these ‘fraud’ cases is hampered.”

Now, the state is rolling back its plans to cut off benefits for employees who refuse to work. “No benefits are being denied right now as a result of a person’s decision not to return to work while we continue to evaluate the policy,” ODJFS Director Kimberly Hall explained to cleveland.com. “Because Ohio is still examining its policies in this area, no adjudications concerning a refusal to return to work have been initiated,” said Bret Crow, a spokesperson for the department, to Motherboard in an email.

Vice reports that over 33 million people have filed for unemployment since March. Retail stores and other “essential” workers have expressed their fear of possibly contracting the disease due to overcrowded work environments.