Auditors Find Lack of Accountability in Judicial Branch

May 23, 2008

It’s Friday of Memorial Day weekend, so we know that this afternoon, the wheels of state government are grinding to a halt. Even Gov. Jodi Rell’s vacationing, out of state, with family for the weekend.
Indeed, Blog-o-Rama has no reason to believe that ANYONE is working in state government this afternoon, aside from a few administrative workers picking up phones to show there’s some kind of bang for your taxpayer buck.
And yet, emerging from the depths of the Capitol a few moments ago came an employee of the State Auditors, with a 25-page report on the Judicial Branch. These reports should be read like a tabloid newspaper: from the back to the front.
And there it is on page 20.
“Our report found the Department was not performing annual evaluations of its employees and segregates any disciplinary actions or agreements from employee personnel files,” the auditors found.
Well, why WOULD you want to keep disciplinary reports in personnel files? Sounds like a good place to work.
The report also showed “an overall lack of supervisory approval of employees taking compensatory time.”
As so often has been the case in the past, while judges know what’s good for us, they know even BETTER what’s good for themselves.
Melissa Farley, executive director of external affairs for the branch, said the branch’s position is that it “separates personnel information into various files to avoid the inadvertent breach of confidential medical, labor relations or other information. Nevertheless, all such files are maintained in the same unit.”
On the comp time criticism, Farley said “The Branch’s policy is to approve compensatory time in advance. That policy does not require written pre-approval for a compensatory time although in many instances written pre-approval does occur. The supervisor’s signature indicating approval of the bi-weekly attendance sheet serves as documentation that prescribed approvals have taken place and provides assurance that compensatory time is properly utilized.”
Blog-o-rama hates to have its sarcasm undercut by facts. Let’s go back to Page 6 of the audit.
“During our review, we found that the Judicial Branch maintains informal files, separate from the employee’s personnel files, which are not readily available unless specifically requested,” the auditors wrote. “These informal files may contain information regarding investigations of employees or a letter of reprimand…The omission of agreements or disciplinary action from personnel files makes the files less reliable as complete documentation of an employee’s performance and work history.”
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