Report 2008-103 Recommendation 1 Responses

Report 2008-103: California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board: Its Weak Policies and Practices Could Undermine Employment Opportunity and Lead to the Misuse of State Resources (Release Date: November 2008)

Recommendation #1 To: Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, California

To better ensure that its hiring decisions are fair and that employment opportunity is afforded to all eligible candidates, and to minimize employees' perceptions that its practices are compromised by familial relationships or employee favoritism, the appeals board should prepare and formally adopt a comprehensive hiring manual that incorporates the State Personnel Board's guidelines and that specifically directs hiring managers to do the following:
- Conduct and score hiring interviews using a structured interview format and a corresponding rating scale, and benchmark answers that describe the responses that reflect each level of performance on the rating scale.
-Maintain documentation of each of the steps in the hiring process for at least two years. For example, managers should maintain all applications received from eligible applicants and should preserve notes related to interviews and reference checks.
- Forward a memo to the appeals board's personnel services unit that documents the results of the hiring process, including the names of the candidates interviewed, the dates of the interviews, the names of the individuals on the interview panel, and the panel's selection, along with an explanation of why that candidate was chosen. After the appeals board approves hiring the selected candidate, personnel services should maintain this memo for a period of two or more years so that it can demonstrate that the hiring process was based on merit and the candidate's fitness for the job.

1-Year Agency Response

The appeals board issued a new hiring guide in January 2009, which prescribes the use of an interview format, rating scale, and benchmark answers. The guide also instructs that the recruitment file shall be maintained for two years. In addition, the appeals board created a request-for-hire form, which requires the hiring office to obtain and document appropriate approvals and to include on the form the following information: the number of applications received for the position; the number of applicants interviewed; whether an official personnel file was reviewed, references contacted, and if the employee is related to an appeals board employee; and an explanation of why the proposed hire is the most qualified candidate. The appeals board asserts that this form will be maintained with the position action package in its personnel services unit for five years. (See 2010-406 p. 60)

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2008-103

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.