Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Voice of America's (VOA) and Radio Marti's personnel management practices to determine the validity of numerous employees' allegations regarding: (1) time and attendance abuses; (2) irregular employment, supervisory, and management practices; (3) improper contract awards to purchase order vendors; and (4) discrimination and sexual harassment.
GAO found that VOA: (1) lacked sufficient internal control procedures to ensure that it paid employees only for actual hours worked, resulting in time and attendance reporting abuses and noncompliance with overtime, compensatory time, and work scheduling rules; (2) did not adequately monitor its contracting with purchase order vendors and did not follow numerous contracting regulations and procedures, resulting in improper noncompetitive awards to former employees and relatives of current employees; (3) had different grade structures and advancement opportunities among its broadcasting divisions; (4) has not met its affirmative action goals for increasing female and minority representation among broadcasters, radio broadcast technicians, and radio electronic technicians; (5) routinely sponsored temporary visas for foreign nationals it intended to hire permanently; and (6) recommended that Radio Marti review its questionable use of its noncompetitive, excepted service hiring authority, but Radio Marti rejected the recommendation. GAO also found that Radio Marti initiated several actions to address personnel-related problems, including improving communications and manager, supervisor, and employee training and orientation.
