Overview
The University of Massachusetts (UMass) Boston is a member of the Massachusetts public higher-education system, which consists of 15 community colleges, nine state universities, and five UMass campuses. In 1964, UMass Boston became one of the five public institutions of higher learning in the UMass system in accordance with Chapter 75 of the Massachusetts General Laws. UMass is led by a president who oversees the UMass system and by a chancellor at each UMass campus. It is also governed by a board of trustees composed of 22 members: 17 members appointed by the Governor for five-year terms and 5 UMass students elected by the student body for one-year terms. The board shapes general policies that govern all five UMass campuses.
The audit shows the university did not add over one thousand newly hired individuals to its payroll system in a timely fashion. The audit, which examined the period of July 1, 2017 through March 31, 2019, evaluated whether the university had taken measures to address management issues first identified in a 2017 external audit conducted by KPMG.
Overview
During the audit period, some University of Massachusetts (UMass) Boston departments allowed some individuals to work without completing the hiring process, including being added to UMass Boston’s payroll system, so they could be compensated in a timely manner for hours worked. From a list of all 11,814 newly hired and rehired UMass Boston employees, we identified 1,465 occurrences of delayed hiring (representing a total of 1,083 employees).
4 According to the information in UMass Boston’s campus payroll system, these individuals’ action dates (the dates they were added to UMass Boston’s payroll) and their effective dates (the dates they began earning compensation) indicated that they were added to the payroll system from 1 to 537 days beyond the maximum 20-day timeframe allowed by the law, and therefore they could not have been compensated in a timely manner. The five departments with the most occurrences of delayed hiring were (1) Performing Arts, (2) Continuing