By C1 Staff
TRENTON — An audit has found that sick time enforcement is lax at a male sex offender rehabilitation facility in New Jersey, costing the state millions.
Employees at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center “utilized nearly 95 percent of allotted sick time through their career, including 66 officers with over 20 years of service,” NJ.com reports.
A sample test of 26 officers who exceeded their 15-day threshold found that none had submitted doctor’s notes for all their absences and three-fourths hadn’t supplied any.
The audit stated that the center would save $75,000 a year if each corrections officer took one fewer day of paid sick leave.
The review also found that employees were moonlighting without permission, and racking up sick leave and leave without pay.
One corrections officer is already under investigation for working security elsewhere while collecting worker’s compensation.
The audit also took a hard look at inmates who had been refusing treatment, and yet hadn’t been transferred out, in violation of the center’s own rules.
It also scrutinized the pay that Special Treatment Unit residents receive for work around the institution, questioning why they received minimum wage while inmates in the center are paid $1.25 to $5 per day.
The lower pay for inmates is set by the Department of Corrections, while the resident pay is based on advice from a deputy attorney general when the Special Treatment Unit was created in 1999. The audit suggested that case law would support reducing the civilly committed residents’ pay.