Sens. Harding & Kissel on DOC Audit: Taxpayer $$ Must be Returned
August 30, 2024CT Dept. of Correction overpaid worker $163,000 in unearned comp time, new audit finds
By Bill Cummings,
Investigative Reporter
CT Insider
The Connecticut Department of Correction mistakenly paid an employee $163,000 in unearned compensatory time, doling out the money in 54 consecutive biweekly payments, according to a new state audit.
The audit, released Thursday, also faulted DOC for failing to properly account for union leave and use of purchasing cards.
Auditors blamed poor financial controls for the erroneous comp time payments, adding “the additional overpayments appeared to be a result of a lack of management oversight.”
The audit, which does not name the employee who received the payments, said the employee kept the money. An auditor told CT Insider the employee entered into a stipulated agreement to repay the money through payroll deductions.
In a response included with the audit, DOC admitted it made a mistake and said “the staff involved with this error was counseled following agency discovery of the oversight.”
On Thursday, a DOC spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for further comment regarding comp payments or other findings in the audit, which covered the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years.
The DOC is responsible for running 13 correctional centers across the state. The incarcerated population at the time of the audit, which ended July 1, 2021, was 9,020 people, consisting of 8,469 males and 551 females.
Overpaid comp time
Auditors noted DOC employees who work on holidays are entitled to earn holiday compensatory time. Those employees can opt to receive an annual payment for the holiday compensatory time, and the agency is responsible for manually processing the payments.
“In performing an analytical review of employee earnings, we found that a DOC employee that opted for an annual $3,032 holiday compensatory time payment erroneously received 54 biweekly payments totaling $163,729,” auditors said.
“Poor internal controls over annual holiday compensatory time payments could result in undetected overpayments,” the auditors added.
“The DOC should strengthen internal controls over annual holiday compensatory time payments to ensure it accurately pays its employees,” auditors advised. “The department should recover any related overpayments.”
In response, DOC agreed with the finding.
“The agency payroll biweekly checklist includes a review of payroll for holiday payout coding verification and the staff involved with this error was counseled following agency discovery of the oversight,” DOC said.
“In addition, our post review of processes showed a report previously run by the Budget Unit that would have captured the error was inadvertently removed from a monthly process following the manager’s retirement from the agency,” DOC added. “A new report has been created and implemented biweekly for use by (staff) to review … for any recurring amounts that require review for appropriateness. Payroll management has also been advised to monitor the implementation of this biweekly report.”
State Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield and ranking senator on the Judiciary Committee, and Senate Republican Minority Leader Stephen Harding issued a joint statement Thursday demanding the money be repaid to DOC.
“DOC has acknowledged and explained the error, but that overpayment of taxpayer money must now be recovered,” the senators said. “We are interested in learning the details of how and when that significant amount of taxpayer money will be clawed back.”
State Auditor John Geragosian said under an August 2023 settlement the employee agreed to pay back the money through $1,000 deductions per pay period.
Geragosian said he did not know if the employee is fulfilling that requirement.
“There is an agreement to pay it back, and [the employee] had to come up with an initial payment,” Geragosian said. “The agreement stipulated a $10,000 payment within nine days, giving up 100 hours of vacation time and paying back $1,000 per pay period.”
Failure to track union leave
The audit noted DOC guidelines require employees to complete a Union Release/Union Business Leave Form to be released from duty to attend to union related matters. The form must be signed by a supervisor and retained.
Additionally, collective bargaining agreements require union stewards to notify their supervisor when they need to leave their work assignments to carry out union duties and requests by stewards to meet with employees must state the name of the employees involved, their work location and expected time that needed. Stewards must report to their supervisors on completion of duties and return to their job, the audit explained.
In reviewing 29,503 hours charged to union leave by ten employees, auditors found:
- Supporting documentation for 28,282 union leave hours charged during the audited period was not on file.
- One employee charged 3,728 hours of union leave, which appears excessive, the audit said. The employee prepared and approved letters to justify their union leave but did not include required information or supervisory approval. The employee continued this practice until retiring in June 2022.
“The department does not maintain adequate support for employee leave for union business, and the potentially excessive use does not appear to reflect the intent of the collective bargaining agreements,” auditors said. “Additionally, employees with continuous leave receive credit towards hazardous duty retirement while not working directly with inmates. It appears that management does not adequately administer or monitor employee union leave.”
The finding was reported in the last three audit reports covering the fiscal years 2014 through 2019.
“The Department of Correction should improve internal controls related to union leave to ensure time is necessary, properly approved, and documented in accordance with department and union guidelines,” auditors said.
DOC agreed with the finding and pledged to improve operations.
“Within this year Labor Relations, OPM Office of Labor Relations (OLR) has worked closely with DOC management regarding better internal controls as it relates to union leave request,” DOC said.
“OLR and DOC leadership modified the current union leave request form which includes the approval from an appointing authority from each DOC facility when requesting union release leave,” DOC added.
“This process was rolled out a few months ago by DOC leadership to all wardens, supervisors and union leadership,” DOC said. “During this in-person roll out meeting of the newly modified union release form, DOC leadership provided education to DOC management, supervisors and union leadership on the application, types of union release time that are acceptable, accountability from union representative and better controls from managers and supervisors.”
Parole officer time undocumented
Auditors said the department’s Field Operations Manual sets policies and procedures over the use of state-owned vehicles, employee accountability and earning compensatory time. Auditors said they selected ten parole officers and reviewed two months of activity for each, including their employee accountability logs, state-owned motor vehicle monthly usage reports, and compensatory time approvals.
The review revealed:
- The parole officers did not properly complete 13 out of 20 accountability logs documenting daily activity for eight employees; the records lacked supervisory approval and detail of time worked, or hours recorded on the log did not agree with timesheets.
- There was inadequate supporting documentation for 19 hours of compensatory time earned for three of ten employees. The compensatory time authorization form was not on file for one employee earning one hour of compensatory time, and the form was not completed correctly and lacked supervisory approval for three employees earning 18 hours of compensatory time.
“There is an increased risk of misuse of state time and resources,” auditors said. “The missing and incomplete documentation supporting employee accountability and compensatory time appears to be due to a lack of proper supervisory review.”
The finding was reported in the last two audits covering fiscal years 2016 through 2019.
“The Department of Correction should strengthen internal controls over employee accountability logs and parole officer compensatory time to ensure the proper use of state time and resources,” auditors said.
DOC agreed with the finding.
“With regard to accountability logs and compensatory time authorization forms, all discretionary compensatory time and overtime is pre-approved by the Directors office and is closely monitored,” DOC said.
“Non-discretionary compensatory time and overtime is earned in accordance with collective bargaining agreements,” DOC said. “Both compensatory time authorization and employee accountability logs are completed and submitted on a biweekly basis and submitted electronically by the parole officer to the supervisor. Corrective action will be taken to achieve policy compliance through an increased focus on accurate completion, supervisory review, training and auditing.”
Improper use of purchasing cards
State policy sets strict rules for use of purchasing credit cards, including limiting use of the card to the person whose name appears on it and maintaining adequate support for purchases, auditors pointed out.
A review of 134 purchases totaling $44,623 by five purchasing card users found:
- Six purchases, totaling $4,451, were made by someone other than the cardholder.
- Five purchases, totaling $4,044, appear to have been split into separate payments to circumvent the purchase card limits.
“Lack of adherence to state and department policies and procedures increases the risk of improper purchases and abuse,” auditors said.
The finding was previously reported in an audit report covering the fiscal years 2018 through 2019.
“The Department of Correction should strengthen its internal controls over the use of purchasing cards to ensure compliance with state and department policies and procedures,” auditors said.
DOC agreed with the finding.
“DOC did review the split purchases and determined that it was necessary due to emergency facility repairs that needed to be addressed right away,” DOC said.
“It was also determined that the PCard limits for certain staff were no longer adequate due to significantly rising costs so, on 02/07/2023, a request was made to DAS to increase the single purchase limit to $2,000 in order to avoid the need for splitting transactions and using multiple cards so that critical purchases could be made for necessary repairs at facilities,” DOC added.
DOC said the agency: “will continue to work with purchase cardholders to ensure they adhere to correct procedures and card usage. Additionally, cardholders will be reminded to reach out to DOC’s purchase card coordinator if they have any questions or concerns regarding particular transactions before utilizing their cards.”
