Audit of the Department of Labor Relations

This is a performance audit of the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations covering July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2018.

“In this performance audit, we examined DLR’s administration of its dispute resolution case management activities.”

The State Auditor reviewed whether DLR had time standards for handling cases and whether it met the standards it had set.

“Below is a list of our audit objectives, indicating each question we intended our audit to answer, the conclusion we reached regarding each objective, and where each objective is discussed in the audit findings.”

DLR handles labor disputes, so delays and weak tracking can affect workers, unions, employers, and public accountability.

“Without time standards, DLR cannot ensure that these case types are resolved promptly.”

If you are a public employee, union member, employer, or taxpayer, better case tracking could mean labor disputes are handled more predictably and state officials get better information about agency performance.

“Because DLR did not submit this information when required, the Legislature may not have had sufficient information to assess DLR’s performance or provide it with sufficient resources for the following fiscal year.”

The auditor found four main problems: DLR lacked time standards for some cases, missed some existing standards, filed at least one annual report late, and had deficiencies in its internal control plan.

“There were deficiencies in DLR’s internal control plan (ICP).”

DLR said it would review workflows, consider new time standards or check-in points, improve monitoring, file reports on time, and update its internal control plan annually.

“DLR will review and update the ICP on an annual basis in conjunction with the completion of the Comptroller's annual Internal Control Questionnaire and certification, or more frequently if required by operational changes.”

The audit matters because DLR had 1,704 cases in the period reviewed, and more than a quarter were in categories without established time standards.

“These six case types accounted for 487 (28.58%) of the 1,704 cases that were administered during the audit period, as shown below.”

“Time standards” means target deadlines for moving cases through steps and finishing them. “Internal control plan” means the agency’s written plan for identifying risks and making sure its work is properly managed.

“For the purpose of case management, a case life cycle represents the total time from the opening to the closing of a case.”