Report I2009-0640 Recommendation 5 Responses
Report I2009-0640: California Department of Transportation: Caltrans Employees Engaged in Inexcusable Neglect of Duty, Received Overpayment for Overtime, Falsified Test Data, and Misappropriated State Property (Release Date: March 2013)
Case Number I2009-0640
Recommendation #5 To: Transportation, Department of
To address the false claims for overtime and differential work hours submitted by technicians A and B and approved by their supervisor, we recommend that Caltrans require the hours of overtime and differential work claimed by an employee to be matched with specific projects before they are approved for payment to help ensure that the hours claimed are legitimate. (See I2009-0640, p. 23)
Agency Response From May 2013
Caltrans reported that since January 2012 the supervisor of the Foundation Testing Branch has been performing an initial review of all overtime requests before forwarding the requests to the office chief for final approval. In addition, the supervisor has been conducting weekly quality reviews of pre-approved overtime requests, time sheets, and daily field reports to ensure the accuracy of each employee's claimed hours of overtime and differential work. The supervisor also ensures that all reported overtime and differential work is matched to specific projects before approving the time sheets. Finally, the supervisor and staff were provided training in April 2013 to reinforce compliance with overtime policies and will be given similar training annually thereafter.