General Circular No. 001259

To: Heads of State Agencies and Human Resource Directors

Subject: Falsifying Job Descriptions

Issue Date: October 28, 1996

On September 15, 1994, General Circular No. 001165 was issued. It brought attention to a decision of the State Civil Service Commission which found that three employees had falsified a job description in an attempt to cause one of the three employees' positions to be reallocated upward. The three employees included the employee who sought to be moved upward, and two other employees in the chain of command. The purpose of the general circular was to warn state classified employees about the falsification of job descriptions.

Recently, on September 18, 1996, in Docket No. 11420, the State Civil Service Commission found that the same thing had occurred. That is, one employee and his supervisor were found to have falsified a job description in order to obtain a reallocation upward for the employee's position. The supervisor who signed the official Civil Service position description (Standard Form-3 or SF- 3) was the senior supervisor who was physically remote from the employee. The Civil Service Commission found, however, that a signature on a Standard Form-3 was more than ornamentation, and that each signature attested to the accuracy of the duties described thereon. The Commission recognized that it was incumbent upon a supervisor to determine the truth of the documents he signed. The pay of the employee who obtained the reallocation upward was reduced approximately 25% for a two year period. The supervisor was suspended for 45 days.

Please make your employees and your managers aware of this case. Managers should not sign unless they, themselves, are certain that a job description is true and correct.

Sincerely,

Allen H. Reynolds
Acting Director