A progress dashboard outlining Metropolitan’s progress on addressing recommendations from the
California State Auditor’s report
.
State Audit
Recommendations
EEO
RECOMMENDATION
deadline
status
Ensure compliance with state and federal laws and best practices, by updating policy to include definitions and examples of retaliation, information about an employee’s right to file a complaint directly with DFEH or the EEOC, reference to written investigatory procedures, and that the policy accurately reflects all other requirements in state and federal law.
10/22
In Progress
Review and update its sexual harassment policy as needed.
10/22
In Progress
Develop an official policy defining and prohibiting abusive conduct.
10/22
In Progress
Improve the EEO office by staffing the office commensurate with the workload, including adding staff to handle investigations, training, and compliance.
10/22
In Progress
Improve the EEO office by establishing formal written responsibilities for specific staff within the office.
10/22
In Progress
Improve the EEO office structure so that it operates independently with minimal potential threats to impartiality.
10/22
In Progress
Update investigation procedures to include time frames that match DFEH best practices for responding to, investigating, and closing EEO complaints and should adhere to those time frames.
10/22
In Progress
Provide quarterly reports to the board including how many EEO complaints have been received, investigated, including how many of those investigations surpassed the time frames in MWD’s procedures.
10/22
In Progress
Develop written procedures that specify how non-EEO staff who receive complaints from employees should handle referrals of EEO complaints to the EEO office, and train staff on those procedures.
6/22
In Progress
Develop written procedures for handling potential threats to impartiality in investigations, including explicit conditions in which a party other than the EEO office plays a lead role in an EEO complaint, such as the Ethics Office or the General Counsel’s office
6/22
In Progress
Implement an electronic recordkeeping system that allows accurate and complete tracking of EEO complaints in a single location.
10/22
In Progress
Designate an individual to be responsible for logging, tracking, and updating EEO complaint records.
10/22
In Progress
Implement a written, formal process that outlines the steps that it must follow and the factors it must consider when deciding whether and how to issue discipline.
10/22
In Progress
Develop a recordkeeping policy that documents the disciplinary process so that it can demonstrate that its process is thorough and consistent.
10/22
In Progress
Develop written procedures for identifying and intervening in potential retaliation while EEO investigations are ongoing.
10/22
In Progress
Dedicate a person to follow up with complainants after EEO investigations to ensure that incidents involving potential retaliation are not occurring, as well as track these follow-up discussions
10/22
In Progress
Amend the administrative code to require that all personnel-related settlements that invoke confidentiality or have a financial impact are reported quarterly to the Legal and Claims Committee, regardless of settlement type.
10/22
In Progress
Develop a written policy that outlines mandatory information required when reporting settlements including whether EEO issues were implicated, whether the employee is still employed by MWD, the existence and type of financial or confidentiality terms, and whether MWD has taken any corrective action in response to the alleged issues.
10/22
In Progress
Implement centralized recordkeeping procedures for all employee settlement agreements, including a means of confidentially indicating the existence of such settlement in the EEO complaint database, its personnel database, or some other central repository.
10/22
In Progress
Hiring/Recruitment/Promotion
RECOMMENDATION
deadline
status
Adopt and publish comprehensive formal hiring procedures that include: process for screening applications based on defined criteria, clear instructions for justifying hiring decisions, and document retention requirements for HR staff and hiring managers that align with the steps of the required in MWD’s hiring procedures.
10/22
In Progress
Formally train hiring managers and human resources staff on their roles and responsibilities.
4/23
In Progress
Reinstate EEO Office’s role in the hiring process and develop formal procedures describing that role.
10/22
In Progress
Develop formal procedures for analyzing employee demographics and taking appropriate action based on those data.
4/23
In Progress
MWD should report to its board on the results of the demographic analysis and actions.
4/23
In Progress
Annually share the results of its demographics analyses with various management groups as well as recruitment staff.
6/22
In Progress
Ethics
RECOMMENDATION
deadline
status
Prohibit interested parties from participating in the office’s investigation process, except when necessary to provide information or otherwise respond to allegations.
10/22
In Progress
Establish the best practices highlighted in the audit report for protecting the independence of the Ethics Office, such as ensuring that the Ethics Officer has sole authority to interpret MWD’s ethics rules and that the Ethics Office can obtain advice from outside legal counsel.
10/22
In Progress
Housing
RECOMMENDATION
deadline
status
Improve detail and consistency of procedures for responding to maintenance requests, including when MWD will handle a request on its own and when it will address a request as part of a larger effort with a clear and reasonable time frames for each scenario.
10/22
In Progress
Establish procedures for tracking and regularly report its performance on these issues to the board, including any measures it has taken to improve this performance.
10/22
In Progress
Establish contingency plan for addressing its long-term issues, such as installing prefabricated homes or renovating existing units, in case its current plan for replacing employee housing is delayed.
10/22
In Progress
Safety
RECOMMENDATION
deadline
status
Establish a minimum level of collaboration between safety representatives and management, such as establishing requirements for regular meetings and requiring managers to attend safety committee meetings.
6/22
In Progress
To better ensure the effective handling of safety complaints and the protection of workers who make them, MWD should enhance its written policies to formally define retaliation and include specific steps responsible parties should take when performing the duties laid out in policy, such as protecting employees from retaliation.
10/22
In Progress
Status Tracker
