Audit Report on the Payroll, Timekeeping and other than Personal Services Expenditures of the New York City Commission on Human Rights

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

This audit determined whether the New York City Commission on Human Rights (Commission) is complying with certain payroll, personnel, timekeeping, purchasing, and inventory procedures as set forth in the New York City Comptroller’s Internal Control and Accountability Directives (Comptroller’s Directives) 3, 6, 13, 24, and 25, the Citywide Contract between the City of New York and District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, Personnel Orders 88/5 and 97/2, the Procurement Policy Board (PPB) Rules, Comptroller’s "Fiscal Year End Closing Instructions for June 30, 2003 for Inventory," and Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ (DCAS) "Office of Surplus Activities, Agency User Guide."

The Commission is a Charter-mandated agency empowered to enforce the Human Rights Law, Title 8 of the City Administrative Code. The Commission exercises its authority to eliminate and prevent actual or perceived discrimination in employment, housing, and public services because of actual or perceived differences based on national origin, age, creed, color, race, alienage or citizenship status, gender (including gender identity and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, disability, or marital status. The Commission consists of 15 members appointed by the Mayor.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

The audit found that the Commission generally complied with many City policies and guidelines and its own procedures applicable to payroll and timekeeping. In addition, the Commission complied with various PPB Rules and Comptroller’s Directives for processing purchase orders and payment vouchers.

However, there were several minor instances in which the Commission did not follow certain aspects of its Employee Manual, Citywide contract, personnel orders regarding workweek requirements and time and leave regulations. In addition, there were other minor instances in which the Commission did not follow certain aspects of the PPB Rules, Comptroller’s Year-End Closing Instructions and Directives 6, 24, and 25. These exceptions included: leave use not always recorded on PMS for one non-managerial employee and 16 non-managerial employees; excess annual leave to be carried over into the following year not always approved; available requirement contracts not always used; required number of bids not always solicited; miscellaneous vouchers used improperly for six purchases; purchase files for four purchase orders, three purchase contracts, and three miscellaneous payments lacked sufficient documentation; and inventory records were incomplete.

Audit Recommendations

The audit made 19 recommendations, including that the Commission ensure that: all time records are properly reviewed and compared to the employee’s title for required number of hours worked for the week; employee timesheets are compared with PMS records on a weekly basis to ensure that employees are charged with the appropriate leave when used; employees are charged for annual leave when they depart before completing a full work day, in accordance with its Employee Manual; employees are credited only for compensatory time actually earned; bids are solicited from five vendors when purchasing goods or services that are more than $2,500, in conformance with §3-08(c)(iii) of the PPB Rules; purchases are made from requirement contracts when they are available; miscellaneous vouchers are not used in cases where intra-City vouchers, Imprest Fund vouchers or vouchers against purchase contracts are required; all documentation to support payments is contained in the voucher file and that all payments match the prices, quantities, and other terms specified in the purchase contract files; and, its inventory list contains all pieces of equipment on hand.