In a report from the Baltimore’s inspector general this week, the City’s IT department was flagged for potential waste over a policy that allowed employees who were terminated by the department to collect pay for unused vacation and sick time.
City Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming found estimate of $261,998 was wasted in her investigation of eight separation agreements from Baltimore City Office of Information and Technology (BCIT) between May 2019 and February 2021. These separation agreements, where employees were allowed to resign instead of being terminated, allowed former employees to stay on payroll. Two former employees were still on payroll at the time of the investigation.
These arrangements were allowed under city rules, and BCIT used “discretion” in approving the payments.
