text: Summary 
   
   Investigative Highlights 
   
   State employees and agencies engaged in various improper governmental activities, including the following: 
   
   » Four employees at several agencies misused state time and cost the State approximately $160,000. 
   
   Two employees either took extended breaks or left the premises over a five‑year period. 
   
   
   
   One employee regularly left early from work over two years. 
   
   
   
   One employee slept at her desk for extended periods of time during work hours. 
   
   » A nursing director removed an LVN, who was her personal friend, from her assigned nursing position to perform duties typically performed by an office technician. 
   
   » An official built an unauthorized structure on state property with the help of on‑duty staff under his command. 
   
   Results in Brief 
   
   The California Whistleblower Protection Act (Whistleblower Act) empowers the California State Auditor's Office (State Auditor) to investigate and report on improper governmental activities by agencies and employees of the State. Under the Whistleblower Act, an improper governmental activity includes any action by a state agency or employee related to state government that violates a law; is economically wasteful; or involves gross misconduct, incompetence, or inefficiency. 
   
   From July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018, the State Auditor conducted investigative work on 1,481 cases. This report contains seven examples of investigations that substantiated improper governmental activities, including misuse of state time and inaccurate attendance records, economically wasteful activities, and misuse of government property. In addition, during the past year, the State Auditor issued nonpublic reports regarding nepotism, bad-faith hires, improper promotions, and other misconduct by executive management within two state entities. It provided these reports to those who could remediate the problems and ensure that the management teams involved did not retaliate against perceived whistleblowers. 
   
   California State University, Fresno 
   
   Two facilities operations employees at California State University, Fresno engaged in egregious and continued time and attendance abuse by taking extended breaks or leaving campus without accounting for their time. From 2013 through 2017, two employees failed to account for more than 5,100 hours of work, costing the State more than $111,000 in salary paid for work not performed. Furthermore, the employees were dishonest in their attempts to conceal their time and attendance abuse. 
   
   California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Kern Valley State Prison 
   
   For about two years, an employee at Kern Valley State Prison misused state time by regularly leaving work up to 45 minutes early as a result of inadequate supervision. We estimated that the employee failed to account for 312 hours of missed work time, costing the State nearly $9,000. 
   
   Department of Motor Vehicles 
   
   A key data operator at the Department of Motor Vehicles failed to perform her essential duties over a period of nearly four years because she slept at her desk for extended periods of time during work hours. From February 2014 through December 2017, the employee misused more than 2,200 hours of work time as a result of sleeping on the job, costing the State more than $40,000. 
   
   California Correctional Health Care Services 
   
   From May 2015 through July 2016, a director of nursing (nursing director) at a Southern California adult prison removed a licensed vocational nurse (LVN), who was her personal friend, from her assigned nursing position—or post—providing patient care and reassigned her to perform nurse scheduling duties typically performed by an office technician. During this period, the LVN continued to receive her pay as a nurse even though she provided patient care only when she worked occasional overtime shifts, causing California Correctional Health Care Services (Correctional Health Care) to waste $10,500 in unnecessary salary payments. Furthermore, the nursing director's decision cost the State an additional $18,700 in unnecessary overtime payments that Correctional Health Care paid to other nurses to cover the LVN's originally assigned post, resulting in total waste of nearly $30,000. 
   
   California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 
   
   The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) overpaid a staff services analyst (analyst) at one of its prisons nearly $3,000 from July 2016 through March 2017. The analyst, her manager, an associate warden, and a personnel specialist all failed to follow CDCR procedure and the California Department of Human Resources' policy regarding inmate supervision pay, which resulted in the overpayments. In addition, the associate warden violated state law by choosing not to initiate any collection efforts after two internal audits in 2017 documented the error in pay and recommended the recovery of the overpayments. 
   
   California State University, Dominguez Hills 
   
   In March 2013, a manager at California State University, Dominguez Hills directed a member of his staff to purchase a Nissan-manufactured electric vehicle quick charger for nearly $7,000 before the manager had performed the due diligence necessary to ensure that the equipment was compatible with the energy resource plan for the campus. The quick charger has remained unused for five years, its warranty lapsed in 2014, and Nissan is no longer manufacturing replacement parts. As of February 2018, the campus told us it will be unable to install the quick charger before 2020 or 2021, if at all. 
   
   California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection 
   
   A California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) assistant chief misused state resources when he violated his rental agreement by building an unauthorized structure on state property using on-duty staff under his command. In 2016 the assistant chief built a 16-foot-by-20-foot structure with plumbing, electrical, and sewer connections in the backyard of the state residence he rented from CAL FIRE without written approval from CAL FIRE to build the structure as his rental agreement required. He also did not have approval from the Office of the State Fire Marshal, which is responsible for inspecting state‑owned buildings. 
   
   Footnote 
   
   For more information about the State Auditor's investigations program, please refer to the Appendix. Go back to text 
   
   Back to top ||||| Don’t miss a story on California pensions, state workers and dozens of government departments. Sign up for state worker news alerts here. 
   
   A California DMV data operator slept three hours a day at her desk for three years, and the department failed to take disciplinary action — despite complaints from her colleagues, according to an audit released Tuesday. 
   
   Four witnesses told investigators from the California State Auditor’s office that the DMV employee consistently slept at her desk. The auditor estimated the employee misused 2,200 hours of work time between February 2014 and December 2017. 
   
   The employee continues to work for the state, according to the audit. 
   
   Digital Access for only $0.99 For the most comprehensive local coverage, subscribe today. 
   
   That report was one of several included in the State Auditor’s twice-a-year report on state worker misconduct. 
   
   It also found: 
   
   A high-ranking Cal Fire chief had two state employees build an addition to a state-owned house he rented during their work hours. The addition had plumbing, electrical and sewer connections. The chief did not get permission to build the structure. Photos of the building show it was decorated as a tiki room, and the chief invited people to drink alcohol with him in the building. The assistant chief was punished with a 30-day suspension, and Cal Fire has demolished the structure, according to the audit. 
   
   Two Fresno State University operations employees “engaged in egregious and continued time and attendance abuse” by taking extended breaks over a four-year period. They allegedly wasted 5,100 hours and cost the state about $111,000 in salary paid for work not performed. 
   
   
   
   
   
   The director of nursing at a Southern California prison reassigned a licensed vocational nurse to a position for which she was overqualified. The nurse was reported to be a friend of the director. It cost the state about $30,000, including overtime, because other employees had to cover for the nurse in her regular job. 
   
   
   
   
   
   Do you work for the state of California? If so, then we've got something special for you. For more than 10 years we've provided state workers with exclusive insight and analysis that can keep you ahead of the curve. Adam Ashton and others on The State Worker team provide vital information: News on pay, benefits, pensions, job openings and promotions. 
   
   Trends in the state workforce and at PERS and STRS. 
   
   Exclusive stories about discipline and politics in state service. For a limited time, state workers can take advantage of a 99-cents offer for your first month of access. CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE 
   
   The DMV worker who slept at her desk might have had a medical condition that made it difficult for her to work on a regular schedule. In 2016, her doctor informed the department that she could not perform the duties the job required. 
   
   The DMV reassigned her to another position in January 2017, but she continued to sleep at work. ||||| In this Jan. 2 file photo, people line up at a California Department of Motor Vehicles office to register for drivers licenses in Stanton. (Photo: AP) 
   
   A California Department of Motor Vehicles employee slept thousands of hours on the job since 2014, a report released Tuesday from the state's auditor says. 
   
   The report estimates the employee slept three or more hours daily at her desk since February 2014, totaling over 2,200 hours of work time and costing more than $40,000. 
   
   The employee worked as a key data operator. Her duties included "routine data entry for change of address and new vehicle ownership forms," the report says. 
   
   She processed less than half the documents that she was expected to – an average of 200 documents a day, when key data operators are expected to process more than 550, according to the report. 
   
   While her supervisors were aware of the issue, the report found that they underestimated the amount of time the employee was sleeping on the job and did not properly follow disciplinary procedures. 
   
   A supervisor reported waking the employee up "three to four times each day," the report says. It says the work the employee did complete "was often so inaccurate" that coworkers wouldn't trust her to correctly enter their address or vehicle ownership change. 
   
   Supervisors suspected a medical issue was contributing to the employee's problems, which led them to be "reluctant to take further steps to address the employee’s sleeping and poor production." 
   
   The employee's doctor told the DMV she was unable to perform the duties associated with her job. Subsequently, the employee obtained a physician's release saying she was able to perform her job's duties, the report says. 
   
   Earlier this year, the DMV said it was unable to proceed with disciplinary action because the issues had not been adequately documented. The report says that documentation was completed in March of this year. 
   
   The state auditor's office investigated 1,481 instances of alleged improper governmental activities in the past year, the report says. 
   
   California lawmakers have scheduled an August hearing to examine complaints of long DMV waits, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 
   
   Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2uMeFFg
target: – An employee responsible for logging changes in address and vehicle ownership at the California DMV slept at least three hours a day at her desk for nearly four years—and still has a job. The woman's 2,200 hours spent napping between February 2014 and December 2017 meant she completed less than half of her expected amount of work and cost the state more than $40,000, according to a worker misconduct report released Tuesday by the state's auditor. Per USA Today, the woman's doctor told the DMV that she was unable to perform her work duties, though a later doctor's note said the opposite. The employee continues to work for the state, per the Sacramento Bee.