Office of the Inspector General’s Message from 1999

Nothing ever changes… look at the names in this report and the fraud OIG found from eleven years ago: Adams and Associates (employee alleges fraud) and National Plastering Industry’s Joint Apprenticeship Trust Fund ($996,242 in disallowed costs).

But we still keep granting them contracts despite their number inflation and manipulation of records. Read a few excerpts:

-from The Inspector General’s message page 12 regarding the Mississippi Job Corps Center owned by Adams and Associates

“Our review of 67 student records found that 28 student records (42 percent) were improperly altered, inaccurate, or incomplete. Consequently, the number of students the Center reported as “vocational completers” was inflated and students were improperly paid training completion bonuses. Further, the altered records gave false assurances that the affected students received vocational training.”

-from the Semi-Annual Report to Congress page 57 about the National Plastering Industry’s Joint Apprenticeship Trust Fund

The OIG questioned a total of $996,242 of direct costs claimed by the trust fund and the grant officer disallowed all of these questioned costs.

The Report to Congress also mentions The US Forest Service and Connecticut Job Corps Center and its contractor ITT Federal Services Corps.

Due to missing or insufficient ITT documentation and accounting errors, our audit questioned costs of $297,892 in nonpersonnel and personnel costs ($176,385 in nonpersonnel costs, $98,880 in personnel costs, and $22,627 in general administrative expenses).

Filed under: Adams and Associates, Connecticut Job Corps, Contractors, Fraud, Improper billing, ITT Federal Service Corps, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Labor unions, Mississippi Job Corps, number manipulation, OIG Reports, U.S. Forestry Service, Adams and Associates, Connecticut Job Corps Center, ITT Federal Service Corps, Mississippi Job Corps, National Plastering Industry's Joint Apprenticeship Fund, Office of the Inspector General, US Forest Service

Reader’s comments to Treasure Island Worker’s Union files unfair labor charge

-From Harold

At Iroquois Job Corps, management staff were required to give up weekends on a rotating basis to act as “duty officer”. They also had to come in on weekends to oversee the return of students from breaks and participate in searching luggage for various contraband. Because they were salaried employees, there was no OT pay, nor was any comp time granted.

In fact, one could not earn comp time at any time working for ETR. This was not the case yrs ago with other corporations that ran Job Corps centers. There were enough staff on centers to manage the center on week ends and to do searches. Over-working the management staff and denying hourly staff their breaks has developed over the years and is obviously condoned by the government. This is a common finding in OIG reviews but other than paying a fine now and then, nothing is done about it.

Filed under: Contractors, Education and Training Resources (ETR), Fraud, Iriquois Job Corps, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, number manipulation, OIG Reports, Reader's Comments, Education and Training Resources, ETR, Fraud, Job Corps, Job Corps number manipulation, Labor Laws, Office of the Inspector General, Reader's Comments to Treasure Island Workers Union, salaried employees

A Former HR Employee’s Story

“I can attest to Christopher’s allegations as a former employee in Human Resources. It was common practice to do everything possible to dismiss an employee if they were able to perceive what was really going on at the center, if they “knew too much” already, or if they weren’t personally liked by management. If management had the slightest inkling that you had them figured out, then the disciplinary inquest would begin to find flaws in your performance so that termination could be recommended. This recommendation had to be approved by the corporate office before it could be executed.

In my case, termination was recommended after I had used my temporary managerial signing authority to approve two hospital bills from an employee who had been injured on the job. This employee had initially refused to visit the local hospital emergency room, but followed the directive by his immediate manager to be evaluated. His treatment was not covered under his insurance plan or the Workman’s Compensation program that was currently in place. The first reimbursement got approved for the employee and processed without question. The second did not get processed even though I had all approval signatures and followed the same procedure as I did for the first. The Finance Manger had “noticed” this was an unusual situation after already processing the first reimbursement, and had disagreed with the employees request after the fact. He did not like me personally because I wouldn’t give his dysfunctional accountant the “special treatment” she expected. Instead of telling her to stop complaining and whining about how she didnt think I “liked her”, he blamed his inability as a manager to correctly discipline her for gossiping in the workplace on me, and was constantly looking for ways to get me into trouble. Anyway, the employee reimbursement issue was determined to be my fault.

My termination recommendation was so lame and without merit that it was obviously denied by the corporate office, but shortly before this my poor excuse for a “manager” asked me if everything was o.k. because I had been unusually quiet in the office. I’m sure she was able to sense that I had things figured out, since I wanted as little dialogue with her as possible. This same “manager” joined my health club a few weeks later. I did not attempt to engage in any contact with her on a social level, but still gave her the required “respect” of a direct report while in the workplace. I think this confirmed to her what she had originally suspected, and termination was again recommended for me after I inadvertently reported foul  language being used while attempting to accomplish a task with a nearly impossible deadline. This task was completed, but the decision was already made to proceed with termination. It was proven during a DUA hearing that there was no misconduct or willful disregard to the employer units best interest. The state of Massachusetts ruled in my favor, and I won my case.
The only positive aspect of being employed there was that the workplace was only a two minute commute, which worked out well during the 2008 gas crisis. The dental plan was also good, but I hated every second of working there. The pay scale was low, and only the employees who were “robotic” and agreed with everything management said and did were eligible for merit increases and the monthly awards that were given out. That was the price, and those were the payoffs.

The most contradictory element in all employee relations was the evaluation process. No matter how positive or “perfect” an employee’s performance was, there had to be something negative included as an “area needing improvement”. If nothing was documented in this area, the evaluation would be sent back to the reporting manager, and “something wrong” would have to be found. However, the results of the 2009 audit by the Office Of The Inspector General revealed that management was falsifying statistics and inflating numbers to continue to receive funding from Congress.

The Department Of Labor also conducted a separate investigation which revealed that hourly employees were not being compensated for working through lunch breaks, along with not being paid their legal overtime rate beyond 40 weekly hours. If overtime hours were recorded on a time card, or if a lunch break not taken, the time card would be rejected and a “correction” would be required before it could be processed for payroll. How could their “policies” regarding employee evaluations (or anything else) be respected if they were ordered by the DOL to reimburse hourly employees thousands of dollars in overtime back pay (some employees received in excess of $2,000.00), and their false reporting resulted in reprimands from the OIG and fines of over $14,000.00?”

Filed under: Department of Labor, DOL, Employees, Job Corps, OIG Reports, Reader's Comments, wage and hour investigations, Audit, dismiss, DOL, employee evaluations, employee reimbursement, Finance Manager, Job Corps former employee, Job Corps termination, Office of the Inspector General, State of Massachusetts, U.S. Department of Labor, Workmen's Compensation

Oneonta Job Corps Boon or Burden?

As usual, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) paints a different picture of Oneonta Job Corps… Boon or Burden? Depends on which news source one believes.  The polished propaganda from Job Corps or Federal Audit results…

Excerpts from The Daily Star, read the article here:

“Student behavior was poor and marked by the use of profanity, cutting classes, horseplay and disrespect, according to the evaluation.

The Department of Labor also found that after a staff member was assaulted by students and hospitalized, police were not contacted for more than two days as OJCA conducted an internal investigation.

By the time the police were involved, all leads were reportedly lost and the police were said to be stymied in their investigation, the federal report states.

On Sept. 17, the day the Department of Labor assessment team arrived on campus, a baby powder container containing 12 “dime bags” of marijuana was delivered to a student by the U.S. Postal Service, the report indicates.

Rather than call the police and have the student arrested in front of the staff and student population, he was terminated and sent home without police intervention,” the report states.”

Filed under: Arrests, crime, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Newspaper Reports, OIG Reports, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Department of Labor, Job Corps Assaults, Job Corps Propoanda, OIG, Oneonta Job Corps Center, The Daily Star

OIG Report: Job Corps Signature Forgeries and Falsified Placement Reports American Business Corporation (ABC)

U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General

Office of Audit

BRIEFLY…

Highlights of Report Number: 09-06-004-01-370 to Ms. Esther R. Johnson, National Director, Office of Job Corps

Read the Report Here:

WHY READ THE REPORT

The report discusses allegations that placements were falsified in one American Business Corporation (ABC) office and invalid placements were claimed throughout ABC offices. It also discusses allegations that Job Corps did not take timely action to assess liquidated damages or correct placement data when it learned of the invalid placements.

WHAT OIG FOUND

The OIG found that placement outcomes reported by ABC for program years 2003 and 2004 were not reliable and a significant number of invalid placements were claimed. We found unsupported job and educational placements; inadequate documentation of compliance with Job Corps requirements; and confirmed cases of signature forgeries on educational placement verification forms. One of the reasons this occurred was that the procedures the Atlanta Regional Office used to monitor ABC placement activities were not effective and the placement verification processes had systemic weaknesses. We did find that the Atlanta Regional Office (1) initiated actions to recover liquidated damages from ABC, and (2) identified and reported invalid placements to the National Office, although it could have initiated those actions timelier.

Filed under: American Business Corporation, Contractors, Department of Labor, Fraud, Job Corps, number manipulation, OIG Reports, ABC, American Business Corporation, Atlanta Regional Office, Audit, false reports, Job Corps, OIG Reports, signature forgeries, U.S. Department of Labor

Reader’s Comments about Job Corps

“I can attest to Christopher’s allegations as a former employee in Human Resources. It was common practice to do everything possible to dismiss an employee if they were able to perceive what was really going on at the center, if they “knew too much” already, or if they weren’t personally liked by management. If management had the slightest inkling that you had them figured out, then the disciplinary inquest would begin to find flaws in your performance so that termination could be recommended. This recommendation had to be approved by the corporate office before it could be executed. In my case, termination was recommended after I had used my temporary managerial signing authority to approve two hospital bills from an employee who had been injured on the job.

Filed under: Comments, DOL, Job Corps, OIG Reports, Reader's Comments, Department of Labor, DUA hearing, employee evaluations, Job Corps, OIG audits, State of Massachusetts

Job Corps and Truth in the Media: Management and Training Corporation (MTC)

Recently MTC was honored by the National Job Corps Association for being its Operator of the Year for its excellent participation in the Stars Program.  The purpose of the “Stars” program is to ensure that positive press about Job Corps is in the news as much as possible.  Under “Stars”, Job Corps centers are also required to regularly provide their legislators with information about all the good things happening at Job Corps centers.

Read the news release here:

“The NJCA also honored MTC as its Operator of the Year. The organization noted that, in 2009, 21 of the 26 Job Corps centers MTC operates, or partners in operating, earned the maximum 48 stars through their quarterly star public outreach program. A maximum of 12 stars each quarter can be earned by maintaining contact with congressional representatives, generating positive media coverage, completing green initiatives and undertaking other community outreach efforts.”

Such positive press for Job Corps is easily found on the internet because  the media is bombarded with Job Corps propaganda and hype on a daily basis.  (Remember, the Job Corps operators are competing for recognition  in the “Stars” program. )

The problem I have with all the media hoopla is the mundane quality of the constant information that is glitzed into our consciousness about Job Corps. Don’t people wonder why the headlines, “Philadelphia Job Corps Students Attend Job Fair” is such a newsworthy event? What’s so earth shattering about it that it should be published?

On the other hand, important information like MTC’s making the “top 100” list of Contractor’s having to pay the Government fines and refunds in the millions of dollars is information that can only be found through careful digging and researching.  It’s amazing what we consider  important news.

Please read the information here about MTC corporation and its terrible record of contract fraud and labor violations. (This information doesn’t include the OIG reports of MTC’s manipulation of statistics in order to inflate their performance record.)

Here is an OIG report that discusses MTC’s inaccurate reporting of performance statistics.

Again, which is more important news? The fact that MTC’s centers excel at getting press releases in the news at a higher level of frequency than what “Stars” requires? Or, the fact that their corporation has serious flaws in providing accurate information and is on a “Top 100” list for contractor fraud.  You decide.

Filed under: Contractors, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Management and Training Corporation, Newspaper Reports, OIG Reports, Fraud, Management and Training Corps, MTC Corp, OIG, performance

Reader’s Response “Will the Job Corps Get Away With Not Reporting to Congress as Required?”

From Harold-

“This report came out over one year ago and what has the OMB done about the report that was never submitted to Congress? The National Job Corps Director was fired allegedly for not submitting the report and a new Director has been appointed, but we have not seen any public notice of what the OMB plans to do about this situation. Will the truncated statistics be allowed to continue? Will the Job Corps get away with not reporting to Congress as required? What kind of accountability can possibly exist when a government employee takes it upon herself to deliberately violate the law?

Students who dropped out prior to 60 days in the program and certain other disciplinary terminations are not included in the performance measurement statistics.  About 30% of student drop-outs fall into the two categories mentioned above. If all students were included in the statistical pool, the outcome statistics would show a very different story from what is reported to the public.

This is just another example of our government burying the facts about fraudulent use of our taxpayer dollars. They don’t want the public to know the truth about the performance of this program and about how the “fat-cat” contractors are lining their pockets at our expense.”

From Tonks-

“They don’t care. These contract companies and DOL are in bed together, and now with the Supreme Court giving them the freedom to pay off the Congressmen and Senators with “campaign contrubutions” who knows if anything will ever be done. It makes me sick what they get away with, the lives they destroy, with out blinking an eye.”

Filed under: Contractors, OIG Reports, Reader's Comments, accountability, burying the facts, conractors, Job Corps inaccurate statistics, OIG, OMB, Reader's response

JOB CORPS’ REPORTED PERFORMANCE MEASURES DO NOT COMPLY WITH ALL LEGISLATIVE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS OIG (2009)

Important OIG Investigation (2009) Read the entire report here:

The older OIG reports published here further expose and prove the seriousness of the Job Corps and its contractor’s manipulation of numbers and false statistics–nothing has changed.  We are building new Job Centers and increasing the yearly amounts of money for this program based on falsified reports.

What OIG Found

“The Department did not fully comply with WIA and GPRA reporting requirements. As a result, Congress, OMB and other decision makers may have lacked some critical data for making informed decisions regarding the Job Corps program.”

“We also found that Job Corps did not fully comply with OMB’s reporting requirements for job placement outcomes. Job Corps did not include all students who left the program in its reported job placement data, but instead only reported placement outcomes for students who had been enrolled for at least 60 days.”

Filed under: Contractors, government oversight, OIG Reports, Performance, false reports, Job Corps contractor, Job Corps performance, legislative reporting, manipulation of numbers