Log sheet urged for Saipan mayor's office
The Office of Public Auditor has recommended the Saipan Mayor’s Office to enforce the use of a log sheet for employees who go out on assignment during office hours and to document all calls of employees reporting leave.
This to ensure that the whereabouts of employees on field assignments are monitored and the person responsible for monitoring absences and leave balances is informed about which employees are absent and for what reasons.
The recommendations are part of a report released yesterday by OPA regarding time and attendance at the Saipan Mayor’s Office Administrative Division and Mechanic Shop.
OPA conducted surprise inspections of the Administrative Division and Mechanic Shop after receiving complaints that some SMO employees were abusing government time.
It was alleged that two employees regularly reported for work to time-in and then left to work at their private businesses.
These employees were being paid in full without being charged the appropriate leave.
OPA found that employees were improperly paid time-off as regular hours instead of leave and the Mayor’s Office granted compensatory time-off to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) exempt employees.
LaMotte recommended the Mayor’s Office to require the timekeeper to submit the time cards and time sheets to a designated supervisor such as the Administrative Officer for review of time charges and to comply with the CNMI Personnel and Policies and the FLSA by disallowing the accumulation and use of compensatory time by executive, professional and administrative employees.
Other recommendations include the establishment of policies and procedures to adequately monitor and control compensatory time and establish controls over manual entries in time cards such as requiring employees to call the office from their job site or requiring supervisors to do surprise checks to ascertain that employees who go directly on their field assignments actually worked.
