Audit of the Processing of Adverse Personnel Actions

(Audit Report No. 98-088, October 30, 1998)

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has completed an audit of the processing of adverse personnel actions. The audit objectives were to (1) evaluate Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) policies, procedures, and directives concerning personnel adverse actions to determine if they are adequate to control and administer adverse actions; and (2) determine whether FDIC policies, procedures, and directives governing the process of personnel adverse actions were followed.

We concluded that FDIC's policies and procedures are adequate to control and administer adverse actions. During the period of our audit, the FDIC followed its policies and procedures for the 26 adverse actions we evaluated. For each "cause" of adverse action, we found that the actions taken were within management's discretion and were in accordance with the process for administering adverse personnel actions. Additionally, of seven adverse actions appealed to either the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or through FDIC's grievance procedures, none were overturned during the scope of our audit. Further, the FDIC followed its policies and procedures for the 20 disciplinary actions we reviewed. We also reviewed 26 OIG investigative referrals to FDIC management for personnel action and found that the actions taken for the referrals were handled within management's discretion under the applicable policies and procedures.

We found that the Disciplinary and Adverse Action Log (log) used by the Division of Administration (DOA), Labor and Employee Relations Section (LERS) to track actions taken by the FDIC was incomplete. We identified five employees who were not included in the log. One of the five employees was subject to an adverse action and four employees were subject to disciplinary actions. The five employees were included in our universe of disciplinary/adverse actions we evaluated.

We recommend that the Associate Director, Personnel Services Branch, DOA, instruct the staff to:

On October 22, 1998, the Acting Director, Division of Administration provided a written response to the draft report. The Corporation's response provided us with the requisite elements of a management decision for all recommendations. Therefore, no further response to this report is necessary.