Evansville Courier & Press
A six-week review last fall of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration found 41 areas of noncompliance with federal law or labor regulations, 31 points that the report described as areas of concern and three incidences of positive practices. Some of the report's findings:
DWD violated federal rules by not checking the National Directory of New Hires against its caseload. The online directory is designed to guard against unreported and underreported wages.
A $7 million contract with Ivy Tech Community College to provide training for dislocated workers lacked accountability. It was canceled.
DWD was responsible for 11.2 percent of improper unemployment insurance payments in 2007. The national average was 2.3 percent.
DWD lacked competitive bidding for several contracts and lacks comprehensive procurement guidelines.
In one case, a vendor received a contract as a fiscal agent at two levels, meaning it was monitoring its own work in a conflict of interest.
DWD renewed a Statement of Work - performance terms of a contract - with the Indiana Youth Institute despite appearances that work was not completed. Institute President and CEO Bill Stanczykiewicz had an apparent conflict of interest because he served on a DWD board at the time.
Case managers in South Bend and Fort Wayne had 200 or more cases at a time. The report says quality drops once the level reaches 100.
An error triggered by merging two databases resulted in missing electronic applications.
DWD fell short of a federal mandate to give priority of service to veterans and to unemployed workers already in the system.
DWD failed to use labor market information to project whether displaced workers who participated in job training would be able to find employment using their acquired skills.
Among the positive practices the report cited was one that found the agency was improving its timeliness for initial payments and appeals. It also lauded the agency for developing a training task force to focus on critical issues.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration report
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