June 2, 2025 (Salem, OR) — The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) has terminated four federal Unemployment Insurance grants to the Oregon Employment Department.
OED was notified of the immediate termination of the following grants on May 22, purportedly because each “no longer effectuates the Department of Labor’s priorities for grant funding.”
- Unemployment Insurance (UI) Navigator Grant – A $3 million grant awarded in 2022 that funded partnerships with three community-based organizations to help workers from historically underserved communities learn about, apply for, and, if eligible, receive UI benefits. This grant was set to expire on June 14, 2025.
- Equitable Access to Unemployment Insurance (EAUI) Grant – A $4.5 million grant in 2022 aimed at removing barriers and improving access to UI benefits for historically underserved communities through outreach, improved tools, and by developing new resources. This grant was set to expire on June 30, 2025.
- Unemployment Insurance Integrity Grant – A $1.7 million grant awarded in 2023 to boost overpayment recovery by funding eight limited duration positions in the Contributions & Recovery Division.
- Unemployment Insurance Tiger Team Grant – This $3 million grant funded many projects, most of which are already completed. However, approximately $370,000 was awarded in 2023 to hire outside experts to help ensure OED’s most commonly used letters were easy to understand. Work on this portion of the grant had not started at the time of termination.
OED is actively assessing the impact of these federal termination notices, in close partnership with Governor Kotek and legal counsel.
Because the Equitable Access and Navigator grants were staffed through job rotations, OED does not anticipate that terminating the grants a few weeks early will significantly impact customers.
Terminating the Integrity Grant has resulted in the elimination of seven limited duration positions in Contributions & Recovery, which will hamper OED’s efforts to recover money from customers who were not eligible for all of the benefits they received.
“We are extremely proud of the work we have already completed as a result of these grants, including our efforts to make sure all Oregonians have access to unemployment insurance benefits” said OED Director David Gerstenfeld. “We are equally disappointed that we will have fewer resources to support our ongoing work in overpayment recovery and improving the customer experience, which will always be high priorities for OED.”
