Hundreds of L.A. County social workers either liars or really bad drivers, audit suggests

The L.A. Daily News reports:

In yet another stinging audit of Los Angeles County's Department of Children and Family Services, a new investigation has found that hundreds of social workers in the past two years racked up $1.1 million in vehicle-damage claims that included a host of questionable payouts, officials said Tuesday.

Auditors said one social worker sought reimbursement for vehicle damage while off-duty, others forged supervisors' signatures on claims and dozens of claims for windshield damage were paid out at an average cost of $950 when the usual cost is about $265.

In one case, auditors said, a social worker claimed a vehicle was totaled and filed a claim exceeding $10,000 - more than the vehicle's fair market value - even though a police report described the accident as a minor "fender bender."

And overall, auditors said a widespread lack of management oversight and controls in reimbursing the county's 3,000 social workers for work-related vehicle damages from July 2005 to November 2007 resulted in nearly 700 claims.

"We took a sample and discovered 80 employees had filed approximately 170 claims," said acting Auditor-Controller Wendy Watanabe. "That's an average of two or more claims per employee. That seems very excessive.