E.S.C. Interim Executive Director Samuel Foster

Making the point that the Employment Security Commission is not the inefficient, incompetent organization as many critics have tried to describe it, E.S.C. Interim Executive Director Samuel Foster says the commission has for the past wight months provided staff support and assistance to the Legislative Audit council in their efforts to review the operational and administrative procedures within the agency. Foster says the Legislative Audit Council’s report was thorough.

“Nine address differences of opinion on how we conduct administrative functions, three are matters to be decided by the legislature, six were initiated or enacted before the audit or published, the remaining eight identify procedural changes which have been or will be implemented. Not once in the 26 recommendations is there mention of the agency’s being out of control or incompetent,” says Foster. [Read more...]

A review of the state Employment Security Commission, requested by the  General Assembly, was released to the public today. The agency has been the topic of criticism and scrutiny by lawmakers and the governor’s office throughout the current recession. Among the LAC major recommendations:  making the commission a cabinet agency, allowing the governor to appoint the executive director, and amending of state law to provide that an employee terminated “for cause” cannot get unemployment benefits.

Read the Legislative Audit Council summary report. [Read more...]