Audit Report on the on The Queens County District Attorney’s Office’s Controls Over Personal Services Expenditures

Executive Summary

New York City’s five District Attorneys (DAs), including the Queens County DA, are each public officers elected to terms of four years who are responsible for investigating and prosecuting crimes, assisting victims, and implementing crime prevention strategies in their respective boroughs. The Queens County District Attorney’s Office (QCDA) is primarily City-funded. In addition, the office’s budget is supplemented with the proceeds of asset forfeitures provided to the QCDA.^[1]

During our audit scope period, Fiscal Years 2019 and 2020 (July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2020),  the QCDA employed and administered the City-funded compensation of 978 individuals,  consisting of 405 legal staff members (Assistant District Attorneys or ADAs) and 581 support staff members, mostly unionized staff.^[2] The objective of this audit was to determine whether the QCDA maintained adequate fiscal controls over its Personal Services (PS) expenditures.^[3]

Audit Findings and Conclusion

We found that the QCDA did not maintain sufficient controls over its PS expenditures to ensure that compensation paid to its employees was appropriate, adequately supported, and properly approved. Specifically, we found that:

• The QCDA did not maintain written management policies and procedures governing the agency’s PS operations in matters affecting PS expenditures during our audit scope period.
• The QCDA did not comply with Comptroller’s Directive #13 regarding the contents of employee personnel files. We found that all 40 sampled personnel records that we reviewed were incomplete.
• The hard copy timesheets submitted by ADAs and approved by division or bureau chiefs were inadequately reviewed. Consequently, we found numerous errors on the timesheets of 10 sampled ADAs.  The QCDA’s timesheets also lacked fields calling for the ADAs who filled them out to enter their arrival and departure times as required by Comptroller’s Directive #13.
• QCDA personnel inappropriately approved overtime compensation for support staff. The QCDA paid employees cash overtime after they had exceeded the Citywide overtime cap.  Additionally, we found 458 approved overtime requests that lacked either any justification or a valid justification documented in the CityTime electronic timekeeping system and 277 inappropriately approved overtime requests for periods of less than 15 minutes.^[4] We estimate that, during our audit scope period, the QCDA paid at least $92,163 in cash overtime benefits that either exceeded the cap or lacked valid documented justifications in the CityTime system, and inappropriately awarded an additional 380 hours in compensatory time.
• The QCDA did not provide us with the sign-in sheets it referred to as support for its Miscellaneous Pay Adjustments—extra pay—awarded to the ADAs who worked on weekends processing arraignments (Intake Weekend Shifts). The QCDA instead provided records that appear to quantify and document case activity in the arraignment section of the court where the ADAs were assigned. While those records provide some evidence that the assigned ADAs worked on the dates indicated, they do not supplant properly completed and approved timekeeping records, in part because they do not necessarily reflect the ADAs’ arrival and departure times or the number of hours each ADA worked.

Audit Recommendations

To address the issues raised by this audit, we make 14 recommendations, including that the QCDA should:

• Develop detailed written policies and procedures governing the staff’s responsibilities that are aligned with Citywide policies;
• Maintain complete employee personnel records that include, at minimum, the information mandated by Comptroller’s Directive #13;
• Require and ensure that ADAs properly complete and submit their timesheets and that supervisory ADAs properly review their subordinates’ timesheets for completeness, accuracy, and timeliness before approving them;
• Ensure that it does not approve cash overtime payments for employees who have exceeded the City’s overtime cap, not supported by documented and appropriate justifications, or for periods of less than 15 minutes; and
• Require that ADAs record Intake Weekend Shifts worked on a timesheet, including arrival and departure times.

Agency Response

In its response, the QCDA agreed with all 14 recommendations and stated that it is currently implementing 4 and plans to implement 10.

[1] Law enforcement authorities effect asset forfeitures through the confiscation of assets that have been used for or derived from criminal activities in an effort to disrupt those criminal activities, punish criminals, and return assets to the victims of these crimes.  Assets that can be liquidated are sold by the U.S. Marshals, with the net proceeds (after victims are compensated) shared with the law enforcement entities that contributed to the seizure of the funds.

[2] Eight individuals were transferred between legal and support staff during our audit scope and are included in both categories.

[3] Personal Services (PS) expenditures are expenditures made for salaries, wages, and fringe benefits of City employees.

[4] CityTime is New York City’s electronic timekeeping system. CityTime allows employees to manage their time and leave requests and view leave balances.  The QCDA’s support staff enter their timekeeping records directly in CityTime.