Auditor Rips Agency For Laxity Labor And Industries Head Agrees To Address Problems

The Department of Labor and Industries, which is charged with finding safety problems in the workplace, has failed to keep track of equipment and cash, says state Auditor Brian Sonntag.

In a critical report, Sonntag said the agency has misplaced as much as a third of its valuable equipment such as computers, has failed to keep track of thousands of dollars worth of computer parts, and is so sloppy about handling cash that money could disappear without anyone knowing it.

Sonntag also said 137 employees of the agency, which handles industrial insurance, workplace safety and code enforcement, are not paying federal income taxes on their personal use of state vehicles.

He added the department has failed to collect penalties owed by electrical contractors who conceal wiring before it has been inspected and by employers who do not pay their industrial insurance premiums.

“There’s been a laissez-faire attitude in this agency in terms of state audits, particularly in regard to inventory, cash and automobile use,” Director Mark Brown said Friday. “That’s not the way we’re doing business anymore. We’re going to work with the auditor in a professional manner.”

In January, Sonntag touched off a furor when he concluded, in response to a state whistle-blower complaint, that Labor and Industries’ electrical division often did not inspect wiring as required by state law.

On Friday, he released his annual audit.

His report included 12 separate areas where Sonntag said the department has ignored state law, failed to protect public property, spent too much money or failed to collect money that was owed to the state. Some of the biggest problems have been identified, but not fixed, for at least four years.

A 1991 audit revealed employees were using state-owned vehicles to drive to and from work, which the Internal Revenue Service says is worth about $720 a year. Labor and Industries promised then to tighten its vehicle-use policies.