An Audit of Human Resources -Countywide Payroll Responsibilities

JANUARY 28, 2025

Report Highlights

Insufficient Human Resource policies and procedures

Over 40 Human Resource Policies govern recruitment and employment, employee relations, training and development, compensation and benefits, and employee development. In the Countywide Audit of Payroll Operations, we conducted more than 264 tests related to the 12 County Agencies included in the audit scope. We found that weaknesses in Human Resources policies and procedures, and lack of training for agency payroll staff, were contributing factors in 74 out of the 192 (38.5%) agency-level findings.

Inconsistent records of positions requiring a background check

County ordinance and policy requires Human Resources to maintain a list of county positions that require background checks. During the countywide audit, we found that ten of the 12 agencies had background check requirements. We found that four out of the 10 (40%) agencies used the Human Resources list of positions when conducting employee background checks. For the remaining six agencies we found that:
• Three (30%) agencies maintained a separate list of positions requiring a background check that did not match positions listed by Human Resources.
• One (10%) agency had internal requirements for background checks but none of the agencies’ positions were included on the Human Resources list.
• One (10%) agency conducted background checks required by the State but did not conduct those required per the Human Resources list.
• One (10%) agency was not aware of the Human Resources list and therefore, no background checks were conducted. Additional findings resulted from agencies failing to conduct one or more background checks or not conducting them prior to the employee starting work.

Inadequate access controls over employee profile data

Payroll administrators have unnecessary access to sensitive employee data maintained by Human Resources, including Social Security Numbers, employee name, birth dates, and bank account information.

Personnel records not adequately safeguarded

Human Resources maintains a variety of confidential employee information including job applications, proof of identity and eligibility to work, performance appraisals, and benefit information. We observed physical security over personnel files to determine whether adequate safeguards were in place. During a visit to the records management room, we observed that the key to the filing cabinets containing personnel records was on top of one of the cabinets.

Missing lump sum payments, inadequate merit increase records, and no independent review and approval

The Salt Lake County Council’s 2022 approved budget included both a 2% pay structure salary increase, and a 2.75% merit increase for employees with an end of year 2021 PDP score of 3.0 or higher. Both increases were to be implemented effective January 1, 2022.
From a population of 2,723 employees reported to have received the January 1, 2022, 2.75% merit increase, 100 employees were Elected, Appointed or Time Limited employees that were not required to receive a PDP. However, we noted that 31 of the remaining 2,623 (1%) employees did not have a PDP score on the reports provided by the Compensation Analyst. Documentation was not maintained to ascertain whether the PDP was omitted because the agency did not submit one, one was submitted later in 2022, or the PDP was not entered by Human Resources due to an oversight. We also noted that four employees did not receive lump sum payments they were due.

Inadequate controls over service award payments resulted in duplicate payments

During the scope of the audit, Human Resources Benefits team issued 345 cash and gift service awards to 316 Salt Lake County employees. From a judgmental sample of 38 employees, we found that 12 (32%) employees received duplicate cash awards, over two pay periods. Overall, we found that $1,650 in excess payments were detected.