An audit from the state Auditor's Office calls on UND to keep better documentation for faculty and remote workers at the school.
The audit reviewed UND’s personnel files to determine if faculty are performing job duties, receiving evaluations and being compensated as required by their contracts. It also looked to see if UND is granting tenure to faculty and if UND has the required “flexplace” documentation to support employees working remotely.
"The University needs to review their procedures to maintain coverages to maximize results while minimizing risk to the University and its employees,” Auditor Joshua Gallion said.
UND spokesman David Dodds said: “UND agrees with the state auditor’s recommendations, and we are working hard to ensure that we implement those recommendations in a timely fashion.”
The audit found UND was not in compliance with North Dakota Century Code, North Dakota State Board of Higher Education policy and the UND faculty handbook, regarding faculty personnel files.
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The audit, which ended June 30, 2018, tested 31 faculty that had “required personnel information that was either not performed or located elsewhere." Four faculty did not have annual evaluations performed, according to the audit.
Under North Dakota law and SBHE policy, institutions are required to perform annual evaluations for all full-time faculty. Additionally, faculty personnel files are to be maintained by the university. The audit said faculty records were located in multiple locations. The audit says UND did not fully understand that annual evaluations are required for all full-time faculty.
The university agreed with the finding.
“The Office of the Provost will formalize the existing procedure and better define what documents need to be in the official personnel files,” the university said in response. “The Office of the Provost will conduct random checks to confirm that the files are properly maintained in perceptive content. UND will follow up directly with the department that did not have the one annual faculty evaluation on file and ensure that policy is followed.”
The audit also found that UND does not have proper controls in place to ensure all remote workers' (or Flexplace employees) documents are retained, approved and properly tracked, a press release said.
With 14 employees tested, the auditor’s office found:
three did not have agreements on file;
11 agreements tested were lacking proper approval;
five employees did not have documentation of workers' compensation insurance;
13 employees did not have an HR evaluation performed;
seven employees did not have renewal or discontinuation form completed;
four employees did not have proper equipment checkout documentation; and
four employees tested were not on the Flexplace tracking spreadsheet.
UND agreed with the finding.
“A policy was written in 2016. The policy is currently under review,” UND said in response. “The review was started prior to this audit. The purpose of the review will assist in making changes that will ensure a better process, accountability and controls including retention of documents and the tracking the approvals.”
The audit found no issues with UND’s tenure process.
