Finding Text
Finding 2022-008 ? Special Test and Provisions ? Priorities in Use of Resources (Non-compliance) Information on the Federal Program: Legal Services Corporation Basic Field Grant Criteria: 45 CFR 1620 requires recipient of LSC funding to adopt a written statement of priorities that determines the cases and matters that can be undertaken. All staff who handle cases or matters, or make decisions about case acceptance must sign an agreement acknowledging they have read and understand the priorities and read and understand a emergency situation, and will not undertake any case or matter that is not a priority or emergency. Condition/Context: During our testing, we selected 25 payroll allocations charged to the LSC grant. Of those 25 employees tested, 4 did not have the required signed priority statement on file. Cause: FRLS did not obtain or retain the required priority statements for employees involved with cases or other matters. Effect: FRLS is not in compliance with priorities in use of resources compliance requirements. Questioned Costs: None reported. Recommendation: We recommend FRLS strengthen its policies and procedures surrounding employee onboarding to ensure the required statement is signed when a new employee is hired. In addition, the policy should include periodic review of employee files to ensure all required documentation is present and up to date. Views of Responsible Officials: See Management?s View and Corrective Action Plan included at the end of the report.