Five dozen Maryland employees were fired for egregious misconduct and subsequently rehired by other state agencies, according to a new state audit.
The 61 workers were “terminated with prejudice” from the Maryland Department of Transportation, meaning they were disqualified from future employment at the transportation agency.
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But because of variations in state employers’ personnel policies, nothing prevented those workers from being hired at any of Maryland’s other executive agencies, such as the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Human Resources, according to the audit by Maryland’s independent legislative services department.
Reasons for the workers’ termination could include stealing money, negligence, sexual harassment or a felony conviction, state officials said. The Maryland Department of Transportation would not disclose specifics about why the 61 employees were fired.
A Maryland employee who is fired for any one of those reasons is prohibited from working for the state, in any capacity, for at least three years, according to the Department of Budget and Management’s Office of Personnel Services and Benefits.
But the Maryland Department of Transportation and the University System of Maryland operate under similar — but separate — personnel policies and are not required to provide information on fired workers to other state employers.
In fact, auditors noted that state agencies lacked any formal type of communication or database of terminated workers, meaning the state could rehire fired employees without knowing about past infractions.
“We thought it was strange that you have these systems with different rules and none of the systems are coordinated,” said auditor Bruce Myers. “If someone is not worthy to work for the state in one place, why would they be worthy to work [for the state] in another place?”
Auditors recommended that Maryland find a way to apply its re-employment prohibition to all state employers.
“Even if it takes some law change and direction out of Annapolis, we think that’s necessary,” Myers said.
Auditors also said the state should create a central database to share termination information.
The Maryland Department of Budget and Management agreed with the auditors’ findings in a written response to the report, but noted that a law change may be required to implement the recommended changes.
