January 8, 2020
Seven Days published a piece today, titled, "Cost of Misconduct: State Employees Placed on Leave Get Paid While Investigations Drag On" and it’s definitely worth a read. In the piece, VSEA Executive Director Steve Howard and DHR’s Deputy make it clear that AHS Secretary Smith’s desire to eliminate stipulated agreements is the wrong way to approach the issue.
Reminder: In 2016, the State Auditor highlighted DHR’s lengthy investigations in a report. Here’s an excerpt from a 2017 post to VSEA’s website:
"Less than a year after the Auditor’s Office exposed that the Vermont Department of Human Resources (DHR) was failing in its charge to perform timely employee evaluations, a new set of audits released today find that DHR is also guilty of allowing cases of alleged "employee misconduct" to drag on for months or even years. This delay all too often costs the state a lot of money, and this is at a time when all agencies and departments are being asked to tighten their fiscal belts."
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