Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to clarify NJ Transit’s policy at the time of the audit.
A Wawa run on a day off. A 132-mile daily commute between Newark and Toms River. Stops at Dunkin Donuts and the YMCA.
NJ Transit employees who were assigned company vehicles in 2017 overwhelmingly used them for commuting rather than their intended business purposes, and in some instances misused them for personal reasons, according to the results of an internal audit conducted in 2018 and obtained by NJ Advance Media.
Although employees assigned those vehicles were allowed to bring them home, the audit revealed that many workers were using them primarily for commuting rather than the justified reasons allowed by the policy.
Those assigned “Category 1” vehicles included specialized technicians, employees required to provide 24/7 emergency responses, those who needed tools or specifically equipped vehicles, and those who were dispatched to various locations for NJ Transit. The executive director was also allowed to assign vehicles at his or her discretion, according to policy.
The 2018 document by former auditor Warren Hersh, which focused on Category 1 vehicles, determined that administrators used the vehicles for commuting 84% of the time, and the rest business. In some cases, the audit suggested employees should instead take public transit to save money or should not be assigned a vehicle.
A policy change was enacted the following year — which took into account the audit recommendations to emphasize that personal use, like errands, was prohibited— however a subsequent audit has not been done according to an NJ Transit spokesperson.
“They (internal audit) do monitor the recommendations made in (the) previous audit and confirm they are being implemented to,” said Jim Smith, a spokesman.
NJ Transit declined to answer questions about what sparked the audit in 2017.
“We can’t comment specifically on an internal, confidential document obtained through an unofficial source,” Smith said. “NJ Transit encourages everyone to use mass transit whenever possible.”
The audit determined the agency’s controls over “non-revenue service vehicles (which aren’t used to transport the public) needs strengthening.” It recommended NJ Transit adopt a vehicle policy that is consistent with the State’s policy. “Prohibition of using company vehicles for personal business should be reemphasized to all employees,” the audit concluded. It also suggested
NJ Transit officials said the policy was changed in 2019 to include the audit recommendations.
“An update to the personal use definition” was included in the new policy, NJ Transit spokesman Jim Smith said, but he did not elaborate on what the definition is. Any commuting miles they put on an agency vehicle can be taxed under applicable IRS regulations, he said.
Current NJ Transit CEO Kevin Corbett has remained a regular commuter on the Morris & Essex line trains since his 2018 appointment.
But before his tenure began, vehicles were used by employees to conduct personal business, either on the way to work, during work hours, on the way home from work, or during non-business hours, the audit said. The degree of personal use varied between each employee.
Policy allowed company vehicles to be used for lunch breaks and other breaks during the workday.
At least three employees only used their vehicles for commuting 100% of the time, according to the results of the audit.
One employee logged 15,708 “personal miles” between May and November 2017 for a 132-mile daily commute from Toms River. The audit concluded, “it would be less expensive if he took the train from Bayhead.”
The 118 vehicles that were the subject of the 2017 audit “are currently assigned to positions that require immediate 24/7 response,” Smith said. There are 86 of those vehicles now, officials said. Other employees sign out vehicles from a pool as needed for work travel.
In the case of the administrators in the 2017 audit, it found four out of 25 employees audited were called out after work hours during the May to November 2017 period examined.
GPS data and monthly reports were used in the audit that looked at vehicle use between May 1 to Nov. 30, 2017.
Among the findings were:
- A former administrator “consistently brought her car to a residence in Bay Head.” She also used that car for “minor personal business during (her) commute to and from work” at NJ Transit’s Newark headquarters.
- Another employee “twice drove his NJ Transit vehicle to a Wawa” when he wasn’t working. Another day that month, he drove that vehicle to a school in Toms River and made a quick stop, on a weekday he wasn’t working.
- One employee made “many stops at YMCA” on the way home from work
- Numerous employees made unspecified “non-business related stops to and from work” or during the workday.
- For many employees, the audit noted that there were “More personal miles commuting to work than actual business miles.”
The audit had no data for former Chief Compliance Officer Todd Barretta, who was fired in August 2017 for what officials called “significant misuse of his (NJ Transit) vehicle.” He testified to a legislative oversight committee in August 2017 and filed a federal whistleblower safety complaint against the agency in 2018.
Former NJ Transit Chief Compliance Officer Todd Barretta testifies before a Joint Legislative Oversight Committee investigating the agency in August 2017. NJ Transit officials said he was fired for misusing an agency vehicle, A 2018 audit is silent about his vehicle use while saying other administrators used agency vehicles primarily for commuting.
An audit spreadsheet, which identifies Barretta’s vehicle as being a Category 1, only says an audit was performed by the manager of fleet services on the vehicle use and provided no details.
“This internal audit concludes exactly what I have said all along and clearly shows that any claim that I somehow misused my vehicle is nothing more than one of their shifting pretexts for my unlawful termination,” Barretta said.
Barreta said he’s tried to obtain audit documents over NJ Transit’s boiler-plate objections for nearly a year, through his attorney.
“When I finally won a court order in January, NJ Transit said that this audit did not exist,” he said. “That intentional misrepresentation cannot be explained away by the ignorance, arrogance, and gross incompetence that continues to plague the agency.”
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com.
"use" - Google News
March 14, 2021 at 06:03AM
https://ift.tt/3tiFxJ0
NJ Transit workers misused cars for personal use, spent most miles commuting, 2018 audit finds - NJ.com
"use" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2P05tHQ
https://ift.tt/2YCP29R
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "NJ Transit workers misused cars for personal use, spent most miles commuting, 2018 audit finds - NJ.com"
Post a Comment