Report I2010-1045 Recommendation 4 Responses
Report I2010-1045: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and California Correctional Health Care Services: Both Agencies Wasted State Resources by Improperly Accounting for Leave Taken by Their Employees (Release Date: June 2013)
Case Number I2010-1045
Recommendation #4 To: Corrections and Rehabilitation, Department of
Adjust current employees' leave balances in the leave accounting system to correct any improper charging of leave identified by the audit.
Agency Response From November 2019
Corrections reported that it is unable to collect any overpayments because of continuing grievance arbitrations and statutes of limitation.
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented
Agency Response From November 2018
Corrections reported that attorneys at the California Department of Human Resources continue to work actively on the grievance, which is pending arbitration.
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented
Agency Response From November 2017
Corrections reported that a grievance has been filed that has prevented it from adjusting current employees' leave balances. The grievance alleges that the leave accruals made in error more than three years earlier without notification cannot be adjusted. Corrections stated that the grievance is pending arbitration.
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented
Agency Response From October 2016
Corrections reported that its human resources staff intends to meet with its labor relations staff to notify the relevant unions in November 2016. After the meeting, Corrections stated that it will make adjustments to correct any improper charging of leave identified by the audit, which had a net value of $1.3 million.
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented
Agency Response From October 2015
Corrections reported that it will adjust current employees' leave balances by the end of March 2016 to correct any improper charging of leave identified by its three-year audit. Its audit has already identified leave time with a net value of $678,000 that needs to be adjusted.
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented
Agency Response From November 2014
In November 2014 Corrections reported that by June 2015 it will adjust current employees' leave balances to correct any improper charging of leave identified by its three-year audit. Corrections previously reported that it had adjusted some leave balances based on its audit of leave accounting for fiscal year 2012-13.
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented
Agency Response From July 2014
Corrections reported that it completed the audit of leave accounting by headquarters staff during fiscal year 2012-13. In addition, Corrections reported that it had corrected the mischarged leave it identifed in the audit. It also provided us with information regarding several individual errors that it found. However, Corrections did not provide us with a summary of the mischarged leave it identified and the adjustments it made to leave balances. Corrections asserted that it did not have sufficient time after the audit was completed to provide us with a summary of all the mischarged leave. We maintain that without a summary of the mischarged leave it found, Corrections has failed to ensure that it does not have systemic issues with regard to mischarged leave of its nonmanagerial, exempt employees.
In addition, Corrections still does not intend to conduct an audit of leave accounting during the prior two fiscal years, as we recommended, due to other workload demands. Thus, we reiterate that it will miss the opportunity to adjust the leave balances of numerous current employees whose leave likely has been mischarged.
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented
Agency Response From February 2014
Corrections reported that it completed the audit of leave accounting by headquarters staff during fiscal year 2012-13. In addition, Corrections reported that it had corrected the mischarged leave it identifed in the audit. It also provided us with information regarding several individual errors that it found. However, Corrections did not provide us with a summary of the mischarged leave it identified and the adjustments it made to leave balances. Corrections asserted that it did not have sufficient time after the audit was completed to provide us with a summary of all the mischarged leave. We maintain that without a summary of the mischarged leave it found, Corrections has failed to ensure that it does not have systemic issues with regard to mischarged leave of its nonmanagerial, exempt employees.
In addition, Corrections still does not intend to conduct an audit of leave accounting during the prior two fiscal years, as we recommended, due to other workload demands. Thus, we reiterate that it will miss the opportunity to adjust the leave balances of numerous current employees whose leave likely has been mischarged.
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented
Agency Response From November 2013
Corrections reported that its audit of leave accounting at its correctional facilities during fiscal year 2012-13 did not reveal any errors, so no adjustment to the leave balances of employees currently working at those facilities was necessary. However, as we found a high rate of leave accounting errors at the correctional facilities we visited, we have requested that Corrections provide us with more information about its audit. In addition, Corrections stated that in December 2013 it will complete an audit of leave accounting by headquarters staff during fiscal year 2012-13 and correct any errors discovered by that audit.
Corrections advised us that it does not intend to audit leave accounting during the prior two fiscal years, as we recommended, due to other workload demands. Thus, it will miss the opportunity to adjust the leave balances of numerous current employees whose leave likely has been mischarged, given the significant number of errors we discovered at only six facilities during the one-year period we examined.