Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency is taking back its decision to only attend administrative insurance fraud hearings when large sums of money are at risk.
Agency spokeswoman Lynda Robinson tells The Associated Press that employees were notified of the change Friday. It reverses a directive sent to employees in October which said to only show up at fraud hearings if the amount is at least $15,000.
The agency's reversal was first reported by the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday.
The decision comes after the agency faced harsh criticism last week, with lawmakers saying the order appeared to ignore state law and should have been brought to the Legislature's attention.
In 2011, lawmakers passed legislation to reduce the threshold for a felony charge for unemployment insurance fraud from $25,000 to $3,500.