Waste, Fraud & Mismanagement:
Your Tax Dollars at Work

Error by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations Costs Taxpayers $7 Million. Last year, the Legislature and the governor ordered the elimination of 800 state prison teaching positions. When the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations sent out notices to inform the employees of their job loss, the envelopes delivering the news were improperly dated. As a result, the notice sent to the employees violated the 30-day notice rule. The department is re-sending notices to the employees, but the delay means that the laid-off workers will stay on the payroll for another month, at a total cost of $7 million. (Source: The Sacramento Bee, January 28.)

(Cal-Tax recommendation: More oversight is needed to ensure that employees follow the letter of the law when sending out legally required notices. With millions of dollars at stake, much more attention to detail is needed.)

Cal-TaxReports, February 1, 2010

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