Report I2020-1 Recommendations

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (Fish and Wildlife) should clearly define and train staff on procurement roles to avoid having only a few employees primarily guiding an acquisition of this magnitude.

Fish and Wildlife should train staff who administer or approve contracts on the requirement for all contracts and amendments to be in writing and to work with contractors if there are issues with modifications needed pursuant to warranty.

Fish and Wildlife should retain a professional with appropriate expertise for future procurements of a highly technical nature to develop specifications and engineered drawings and to inspect the equipment for satisfaction of contractual specifications before accepting delivery.

Fish and Wildlife should consider using progress payment schedules for contracts when procuring newly constructed, high-dollar technical equipment.

For future acquisitions, Fish and Wildlife should immediately consult with its legal staff to resolve any probable or possible contract deviations.

Fish and Wildlife should create a process to ensure that any newly acquired fleet assets are registered or documented with the relevant authorities before authorizing use of the asset.

Fish and Wildlife should ensure that its legal staff assesses Fish and Wildlife's ability to recover the money paid to the contractor for any contract requirements that remain unfulfilled.

The California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) should determine the best option to recoup whatever funds it can of the nearly $38,000 it spent on the equipment, such as submitting it to the Department of General Services' state surplus property auction.

CalVet should train receiving staff at the home on applicable contracting manual requirements for the receipt of purchased goods.

CalVet should determine whether the home needs a bedbug oven and, if so, ensure that it is properly stored in accordance with its specifications.

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) should recoup or correct all overpayments made to the employee we determined to have take inappropriate bereavement leave.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) should recoup or correct all overpayments made to the employees we determined to have taken inappropriate bereavement leave.

The Employment Development Department (EDD) should recoup or correct all overpayments made to the employee we determined to have taken inappropriate bereavement leave.

The Department of General Services (General Services) should recoup or correct all overpayments made to the employees we determined to have taken inappropriate bereavement leave.

The California Department of Social Services (Social Services) should recoup or correct all overpayments made to the employee we determined to have taken inappropriate bereavement leave.

The ARB should notify all employees of bereavement leave requirements and where they can find additional information specific to bereavement leave.

Caltrans should notify all employees of bereavement leave requirements and where they can find additional information specific to bereavement leave.

EDD should notify all employees of bereavement leave requirements and where they can find additional information specific to bereavement leave.

General Services should notify all employees of bereavement leave requirements and where they can find additional information specific to bereavement leave.

Social Services should notify all employees of bereavement leave requirements and where they can find additional information specific to bereavement leave.

ARB should remind supervisors of their responsibilities to ensure that employees charge leave properly, including bereavement leave, and to not allow employees to exceed the allowable limits that the bargaining agreements and state law provide.

Caltrans should remind supervisors of their responsibilities to ensure that employees charge leave properly, including bereavement leave, and to not allow employees to exceed the allowable limits that the bargaining agreements and state law provide.

EDD should remind supervisors of their responsibilities to ensure that employees charge leave properly, including bereavement leave, and to not allow employees to exceed the allowable limits that the bargaining agreements and state law provide.

General Services should remind supervisors of their responsibilities to ensure that employees charge leave properly, including bereavement leave, and to not allow employees to exceed the allowable limits that the bargaining agreements and state law provide.

Social Services should remind supervisors of their responsibilities to ensure that employees charge leave properly, including bereavement leave, and to not allow employees to exceed the allowable limits that the bargaining agreements and state law provide.

To address inconsistent bereavement leave policies, the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) should revise its policy to mirror the requirements of Government Code section 19859.3, which requires unrepresented employees to submit substantiation for each leave request.

To address inconsistent bereavement leave policies, EDD should revise its policy to mirror the requirements of Government Code section 19859.3, which requires unrepresented employees to submit substantiation for each leave request.

To ensure that represented employees properly claim bereavement leave, CalHR should work with labor unions to change the bargaining agreements' provision to require represented employees to submit substantiation for each claim of bereavement leave as state law requires for unrepresented employees. In addition, the Legislature should require any represented employees who use bereavement leave to submit substantiation for each leave request.

To prevent further misuse of bereavement leave, CalHR should proactively issue guidance to all state entities reminding them of the bereavement leave requirements and how they differ between represented and unrepresented employees.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) should take appropriate corrective actions against the two employees for failing to obtain storage permits and for misusing their state vehicles to commute between their homes and headquarters.

Caltrans should require these employees to obtain storage permits

Caltrans should determine whether other maintenance employees who work in the same region have been allowed to park at or in the vicinity of their homes without storage permits. If so, require all applicable employees to obtain these permits.

The California Department of Public Health (Public Health) should take appropriate corrective or disciplinary actions against employees A and B for their misuse of state time and for their dishonesty during the investigation.

Public Health should determine the amount of time employees A and B can be charged to account for their missed work hours, reduce their leave balances accordingly, and, if applicable, seek to recover from them any wages paid to them for time they did not work.

Public Health should take appropriate corrective or disciplinary actions against the employees' supervisor for failing to verify that his subordinates accurately reported their attendance.

Public Health should require that these employees, along with any other employees who may be using the outdated version, fill out the most updated version of the State's standard monthly timesheet.

The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) should require the administrator to repay the State for the three days that she reported working but did not work.

The FTB should ensure that FTB staff members who telework have an approved telework agreement on file and follow all the requirements set forth in the agreement, including pre-approval on telework days, if required.

The FTB should ensure that managerial employees know the work schedules of their staff members and require those staff members to adhere to their expected work schedules.

The California Prison Industry Authority (CalPIA) should establish new procedures or enforce the rules whereby supervisors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of subordinates' timesheets.

CalPIA should take appropriate corrective or disciplinary actions against the supervisors who failed to ensure that the timesheets they approved were complete and accurate.

CalPIA should take appropriate corrective or disciplinary actions against the employee for dishonesty when providing conflicting accounts of his attendance during the investigation.

CalPIA should reconcile the employee's attendance records to determine whether he owes the State any time for failing to report his actual work hours or whether the State owes him for unreported overtime during the period reviewed.

The California Department of Social Services (Social Services) should determine whether corrective action is appropriate for the manager in the human resource services branch who was aware of the salary overpayment yet failed to promptly initiate action to recover the funds.

Social Services should ensure that procedures are in place to monitor employees' use of bereavement leave so that all such claims comply with state law or union bargaining agreements.

The California Energy Commission (commission) should immediately and permanently remove the supervisor's responsibility for issuing and tracking the parking permits.

Within 60 days, the commission should take appropriate corrective or disciplinary action against the supervisor for her misuse of state resources.

Within 30 days, the commission should establish and disseminate to all executive staff the policies for the parking permits to minimize future misuse.

The commission should reevaluate the number of parking permits the commission pays for and reduce the number of permits if business need warrants a reduction.

Within 60 days, the Department of State Hospitals (State Hospitals) should take appropriate corrective or disciplinary action against the technician for improperly reporting hours worked.

State Hospitals should recover overpayments made to the technician or adjust the technician's leave balances to account for the missed work time.

State Hospitals should ensure that supervisory staff are present at the beginning and end of the employee's work shifts to ensure proper time reporting.