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October 11, 2019

Audits issued by the New York State Comptroller during the week ending October 11, 2019


On October 9, 2019 New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following audits and examinations have been issued. Click on the text highlighted in color below to access entire report.

A report issued in February 2018 identified a risk that providers could exceed their maximum cost per child if they were serving significantly fewer children and did not reduce their expenditures proportionately. Based on observations of program attendance at selected providers, the cost per child on five contracts ranged from $1,981 to $5,332. Auditors also identified $38,514 paid to six providers for program expenses that could not be supported or included errors. In a follow-up, auditors found OCFS has made progress in addressing the problems identified in the 2018 audit.

Auditors identified over $5.7 million in Medicaid payments that require DOH’s prompt attention, including: $1.9 million that was paid for inpatient claims that were billed at a higher level of care than what was actually provided; $1.4 million was paid for newborn birth claims that contained inaccurate birth information; and $1 million was paid for practitioner, pharmacy, inpatient, lab, and clinic claims that did not comply with Medicaid policies.

An audit issued in September 2017 found the authority did not have a developed information security policy that addressed all the requirements in the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. It could also improve certain other technical safeguards over the cardholder data it processes. In a follow-up, auditors found the authority made significant progress in addressing the issues identified in the initial audit. 

An audit, covering the period April 1, 2012through Feb. 5, 2015, found significant weaknesses in the internal controls over the special hauling permits issued by four DOT regional offices. This included poor accountability over permits issued and fees collected, a lack of segregation of duties for permit transactions, and minimal oversight by management at both the central and regional levels. In a follow-up, auditors found that DOT has implemented the recommendations from the original audit.

A review of $8 million in spending between April 2016 and September 2018 uncovered various issues within its procurement processes, leading auditors to question whether $895,839 was spent appropriately and in the best interest of the state. Buffalo’s poor monitoring of spending and contracting practices resulted in potential lost savings and cost avoidance, overcharges by vendors, and purchases that lack support for business need or reasonableness of price.

Insufficient HR monitoring and oversight and poorly enforced policies and procedures have contributed to questionable and weak practices that render Upstate vulnerable to misuse of funds and security risks. For example, Upstate paid 12 employees a total of $4.7 million in additional compensation for work beyond their regular job duties but did not maintain adequate documentation to support either the basis for the dollar amount or the additional duties that employees were tasked with. Upstate has not established policies or procedures for alternate work (off-campus) assignments. Additionally SUNY System Administration continued to pay a former president her presidential salary of $608,000 while she was on leave in the job title of special assistant to the president. 


October 09, 2019

Professor M. Stanley Whittingham joins other SUNY faculty members who have been awarded the Nobel Prize


On October 9, 2019 New York's Governor Andrew M. Cuomo congratulated SUNY at Binghamton Distinguished Professor M. Stanley Whittingham upon his receiving the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Professor Whittingham won the prize for his work leading to the development of the lithium-ion battery together with John B. Goodenough, Virginia H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and Akira Yoshino, an honorary fellow for the Asahi Kasei Corporation in Tokyo and a professor at Meijo University in Nagoya, Japan.

The Governor said "Professor Whittingham's work has far-reaching applications, including helping New York reach our goals to reduce carbon emissions and achieve 100 percent zero carbon electricity by 2040."

The names and vita of other SUNY faculty Nobel Laureates are posted on the Internet at https://www.rfsuny.org/rf-news/nobel-laureates/

Hearing officer recommends the dismissal of a food service manager found guilty of failure to properly supervise subordinates and other misconduct


A school food service manager was charged with failure to supervise her staff to ensure that potentially unsafe food was not served to students, and failure to ensure that kitchen equipment was clean and in working condition.

Supervisors on several occasions attempted to help the manager remedy these issues, but she continued to perform unsatisfactorily.

New York City Office of Administrative Tribunals and Hearings Administrative Law Judge Joycelyn McGeachy-Kuls found that the manager failed to take responsibility for exposing students to recalled food and failed to take responsibility for the condition of the school kitchens.

Given the seriousness and persistence of the conduct, Judeg McGeachy-Kuls recommended the manger be terminated.

The decision is posted on the Internet at:

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Click here to Read a FREE excerpt from NYPER's

A Reasonable Disciplinary Penalty Under the Circumstances


October 08, 2019

Providing disabled individuals access to the Internet


In Robles v. Domino Pizza, 913 F. 3d 898,*  the United States Court of Appeals held  that Title III of the American With Disabilities Act applies to websites maintained by entities having a physical place of public accommodation.

The United States Supreme Court [Docket 18-1539] denied Domino Pizza's motion for certiorari suggesting that the case will be returned to the District Court for a trial on the merits.

Many disability rights advocates view the Supreme Court's decision as signaling the importance of Internet sites established by governmental entities as well as entities in the private sector providing appropriate accommodations for disabled users even in the absence of guidelines having for this purpose been established by the United States Department of Justice or by Congress.

* The Robles decision is posted on the Internet at:
http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/01/15/17-55504.pdf

Do you employ temporary personnel to serve as election workers?


Each election year, thousands of state and local government entities hire workers to conduct primary and general elections. Compensation paid to election workers is income and may be subject to income tax and FICA taxes as well as reporting requirements.
IRS's booklet Election Workers: Reporting and Withholding will help employers  understand their unique reporting and withholding requirements and which election workers may be covered by a Section 218 Agreement.
The IRS will issue a CP2100 or CP2100A Notice if the payee’s name and Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) on the information return filed does not match IRS records.
This notice informs payers they may be responsible for beginning backup withholding, if they haven’t already done so. Publication 1281, Backup Withholding on Missing and Incorrect Name/TIN(s) (PDF)contains all the information payers need to comply with backup withholding requirements.
Additional resources that may help employers avoid receiving a CP2100 include the following:


W-9 Saves Time and Money discusses the benefits of securing Form W-9 from service vendors

TIN Matching Video explains the free Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) On-Line Matching program offered by the IRS




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Subsequent court and administrative rulings, or changes to laws, rules and regulations may have modified or clarified or vacated or reversed the information and, or, decisions summarized in NYPPL. For example, New York State Department of Civil Service's Advisory Memorandum 24-08 reflects changes required as the result of certain amendments to §72 of the New York State Civil Service Law to take effect January 1, 2025 [See Chapter 306 of the Laws of 2024]. Advisory Memorandum 24-08 in PDF format is posted on the Internet at https://www.cs.ny.gov/ssd/pdf/AM24-08Combined.pdf. Accordingly, the information and case summaries should be Shepardized® or otherwise checked to make certain that the most recent information is being considered by the reader.
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NYPPL Blogger Harvey Randall served as Principal Attorney, New York State Department of Civil Service; Director of Personnel, SUNY Central Administration; Director of Research, Governor’s Office of Employee Relations; and Staff Judge Advocate General, New York Guard. Consistent with the Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations, the material posted to this blog is presented with the understanding that neither the publisher nor NYPPL and, or, its staff and contributors are providing legal advice to the reader and in the event legal or other expert assistance is needed, the reader is urged to seek such advice from a knowledgeable professional.
New York Public Personnel Law. Email: publications@nycap.rr.com