ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A newly released legislative audit reveals money management within Maryland's Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
Auditors found the department kept former employees on the payroll meaning they continued receiving checks.
From July 2017-2022 the report noted 154 inactive workers wrongly listed as active in the department's system for anywhere between 10 and 860 days beyond their departure.
This alone totaled $173,000 in improper payouts.
For example one worker left the department in August 2016, yet the date recorded in the database was October.
Final updates weren't made until June 2018, resulting in that ex employee collecting $58,300 in unearned wages.
"Payroll will investigate payments to employees after the separation date, including those noted above and pursue recovery of any improper payments," the department said in response to the findings. "DBM has also begun providing backdated termination reports to review so future instances can be caught before overpayment happens."
Auditors also uncovered problems with adjustments to employee pay and leave balances.
This especially was the case when department employees were granted military administrative leave.
Between August 2015 and September 2022, auditors counted four workers that were overpaid.
The department paid the two employees a combined $84,557 after failing to switch their salaries from active to leave status, indicating both workers received full state and active duty salaries, instead of the owed difference.
In the case of three other department employees, they were paid military leave despite having no orders granting them such, costing the department $60,108.
The agency claims they weren't aware of these issues until auditors brought them up.
"We will ensure that manually prepared listings of payroll adjustments are reviewed and approved by independent supervisory personnel, and that this approval is documented, before the listings are submitted to DBM for processing," the department said in response.
Budgetary management has long plagued the department.
In November 2020 the Department of Labor got involved, finding the Jessup Correctional Institution failed to pay 343 employees overtime. The department ended up having to pay $468,000.
The Department of Labor later uncovered overtime problems agency-wide, leading to a $13 million settlement with 3,874 employees.
That's all in addition to $9.5 million paid this past March to resolve a slew of other infractions.
