Letter Audit Report on the Human Resources Administration’s Monitoring of Its Employees Who Drive City-Owned or Personally-Owned Vehicles on City Business
Letter Audit Report on the Human Resources Administration’s Monitoring of Its Employees Who Drive City-Owned or Personally-Owned Vehicles on City Business
LETTER REPORT IN BRIEF
This Letter Report concerns the audit of the Human Resources Administration’s (“HRA”) monitoring of its employees who drive City-owned or personally-owned vehicles on City business.
The objective of this audit was to determine if HRA is effectively monitoring its employees who drive City-owned or personally-owned vehicles on City business.
New York City requires that only those employees who exercise reasonable care in operating City-owned or personally-owned vehicles be allowed to use them to conduct City business. This requirement is outlined in the City of New York’s “City Vehicle Driver Handbook” (the “Handbook”). Agency heads, through their agency’s Agency Transportation Coordinator (“ATC”), must ensure that all employees assigned a City-owned vehicle either for full-time use or temporary use have been authorized to drive. It is also the ATC’s responsibility to ensure that these drivers have a valid license. The driver’s license must be a New York State License unless the employee is exempt from City residency requirements. In that case, the authorized driver must have a valid license from the state where he/she resides and must have the appropriate classification for the vehicle which he/she is driving on City business. The Handbook further specifies that City agencies must establish programs that promote safety along with proper training in the use of motor vehicles.
City agencies are encouraged to enroll in the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) License Event Notification System (“LENS”) program, whereby the ATC will be notified of any event that affects the driver’s license, such as an expired license, the accumulation of points, an accident, and charges against a driver for driving while impaired or driving under the influence. This enables the ATC to ensure that only employees with valid licenses are driving on City business.
Results
We found that HRA effectively monitors the driving behavior of its authorized drivers. HRA subscribes to the DMV’s LENS and receives its updates and revokes the privileges of those drivers who have suspended or revoked licenses in a timely manner as prescribed by regulations. In addition, HRA provided its employees with a required safety awareness program.
Agency’s Response
In their response, HRA officials agreed with the report’s conclusions.