The University of Connecticut has been paying nearly 400 dining hall employees directly rather than through the state comptroller’s office, providing them with a separate retirement plan instead of the state pension plan, according to state auditors who have criticized the practice for more than a decade.
These direct payments are apparently in violation of state statute, which allows higher education institutions to make some direct payments without going through the comptroller’s office, but specifically excludes payroll as allowable for direct payments. The university has essentially cordoned off hundreds of employees from the state’s pension system, even though they are state employees.
According to state statute, the chief executive of a state university may, with the approval of the state comptroller, “make payment of any claim against the constituent unit or institution, as appropriate, other than a payment for payroll, debt service payable on state bonds to bondholders, paying agents or trustees, or any payment the source of which includes the proceeds of a state bond issue.”
“Several large dining halls, operated by UConn’s Department of Dining Services of the Division of Student Affairs, provide dining services to UConn students,” the auditors wrote. “The approximately 437 food service operations employees at UConn are generally referred to as dining services employees to distinguish them from other UConn employees. However, the Department of Dining Services is a unit of the university and the state. Accordingly, the employees of UConn’s food service operation are employed by the state.”
“UConn’s dining services employees are excluded from participating in the state employees retirement system and limited to participating in the Department of Dining Services Purchase Pension Plan or the University of Connecticut Department of Dining Services 403(b) Retirement Plan,” the report continued.
The report noted that while university trustees are permitted under statute to employ the faculty required to operate the university and set their compensation, that authority “does not cover employees in state classified service,” and “the work performed by UConn’s dining services employees is consistent with work in state classified service.”
The discrepancy between UConn’s dining hall employees and its other employees has been pointed out in audits numerous times over the past ten years, according to the report, with the auditors recommending that university officials seek statutory authority to pay their dining hall employees directly and to offer a separate retirement plan.
In their response, UConn indicated it has formed a work group “to review the issue and make recommendations to university administration,” and that “review and consideration is ongoing.”
Among the auditors’ other findings for Connecticut’s flagship university was that more than 1,000 hours of compensatory time were not approved for 15 randomly selected employees. According to the audit, the departments could not find or just didn’t use compensatory time authorization sheets, inappropriately used “blanket authorizations to approve compensatory time for the entire fiscal year,” and in a small number of instances, allowed employees to accrue more time than was allowed.
The audit also found that UConn employees using tuition waivers had taken classes during work hours. UConn provided 135 employees with tuition waivers totaling $1.1 million during the 2022 and 2023 audited period. Of the 15 employees that were selected for review, found that nine of them had taken classes during work hours without the requisite Temporary Flexible Work Schedule form.
The university indicated that it would modify its tuition waiver system to include course times and hours, along with employee regular hours, and include language clearly indicating that employees need to fill out the proper flexible work forms. “Subsequently, Human Resources will conduct a post audit following the 10th day of classes each semester,” the university wrote in its response.
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What job let’s you attend college, during work hours, when your supposed to be at work, actually working. This is beyond double dipping and super duper illegal, unless, you’re a corrupt Connecticut state worker.
Hopefully the people who feed the students of UCONN, will get any owed monies, for being excluded from other UCONN workers.
What the taco bell is wrong with these people. Like the citizens of Connecticut can really afford to pay 1 person 50 million dollars to coach people who already know how to play basketball, for only 6 years.
When students could use the 50 million dollars for housing and books.