Report 2021-104 Recommendation 10 Responses

Report 2021-104: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California: Its Leadership Has Failed to Promote Transparency or Ensure a Fair and Equitable Workplace (Release Date: April 2022)

Recommendation #10 To: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

To ensure that all EEO complaints and their outcomes are recorded accurately and promptly, by October 2022 MWD should implement an electronic recordkeeping system that will allow for accurate and complete tracking of EEO complaints in a single location. MWD also should designate an individual to be responsible for logging, tracking, and updating EEO complaint records.

6-Month Agency Response

Metropolitan implemented an electronic recordkeeping system, which went live in October 2022. The case management system records accurate complaints and provides complete tracking of EEO complaints in a single location. This system will make reporting to the Board on a quarterly basis administratively efficient and accurate.

The Deputy Chief EEO Officer is responsible for logging, tracking, and updating EEO complaint records, as shown in the updated job description.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

MWD provided evidence that it has procured an electronic record keeping system for its EEO Office and confirmed that it is using that system to track the nature and status of EEO complaints. We also confirmed that the Chief Deputy EEO Officer's formal responsibilities include logging, tracking, and updating EEO complaint records.

Although we have not directly observed MWD's use of this system, if it uses it appropriately, it will address the issues with its EEO records that we found during our audit. Another use of the system we will continue to evaluate is MWD's reporting to its board, discussed under recommendation #7.

60-Day Agency Response

Metropolitan has started implementing an electronic recordkeeping system, with a new case management vendor, iSight, that will allow for accurate and complete tracking of EEO complaints in a single location. This system will make reporting to the Board on a quarterly basis administratively efficient and accurate.

Metropolitan has designated the EEO Section Manager to be responsible for logging, tracking, and updating EEO complaint records.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

MWD provided a timeline for implementing its recordkeeping system, but it did not present evidence substantiating additional progress or its designation of the EEO Section Manager as responsible for logging, tracking, and updating complaints. We will reevaluate the status of this recommendation in October 2022 to assess what formal steps MWD has taken.

All Recommendations in 2021-104

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.