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Cosmetology inspector charged with submitting fraudulent timesheets
KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: February 25, 2020
An inspector employed by the Ohio State Cosmetology and Barber Board may face charges associated with fraudulently completing work timesheets and receiving pay for hours she had not worked during 2019.
A recent Ohio Inspector General's report noted that the results of the investigation of cosmetology inspector and scheduler Paula Samples were turned over to the Franklin County prosecutor.
Prompted by complaints about Samples' recurrent pattern of absenteeism, a direct supervisor reviewed the woman's timesheets, discovering the discrepancies, case summary provided.
An agency review of the analysis was handed off to the inspector general's office.
At an Aug. 22, 2019, meeting, the cosmetology and barber board confirmed to investigators its review of the following records:
• Signed timesheets submitted for pay periods from Jan. 1 to Aug. 1, 2019;
• Entry and exit time swipes from Dec. 26, 2018, to July 31, 2019;
• Log-in history from Feb. 4 to Aug. 8, 2019;
• Samples' approved leave history for the period from Jan. 2 to Aug. 2, 2019,
provided by the Ohio Department of Administrative Services;
• Emails concerning the woman's leave requests or early departure notifications; and
• Text messages notifying her supervisor of absences.
Inspector general investigators interviewed Samples a week later.
The woman acknowledged to investigators receipt of the agency's timekeeping policies and that she understood her responsibilities of keeping accurate time records, the investigation recorded.
When questioned about her timekeeping process, Samples said that she completed her timesheet and signed and submitted it to her supervisor at the end of every pay period, instead of logging hours at the end of each work day.
Investigators also asked Samples about processes for requesting leave and entering and exiting the building.
The woman asked investigators if any of the 30 days under review might have been times when she forgot the fob employees used to gain entry and record entry and exit times to the building, therefore, explaining why there were no entry/exit swipe records for those days.
Case summary provided that investigators told Samples that there would have been other indicators that she had been at work those days, such as logging into the agency database and emails recorded on those days.
"Investigators noted to Samples that they discovered a number of instances when reviewing her fob entry/exit swipe records and database login and email activity that did not substantiate the hours she reported working on her timesheets," the report detailed. "Investigators determined Samples' leave usage and work times were not accurately reflected on her timesheets and that the amount of leave usage Samples failed to report from Jan. 1 to Aug. 1, 2019, would have actually exceeded her leave balance if reported accurately, resulting in a negative leave balance."
Prior to the interview, investigators had discovered that Samples had requested 48 hours of vacation leave time.
The investigation concluded in the inspector general's report that Samples had acted improperly when she failed to correctly record her early departure times from work and her late arrival times to work, displayed a consistent pattern of absenteeism on Mondays and Fridays and failed to submit accurate timekeeping records when she reported working hours she did not work or did not report using the correct amount of leave time that she actually used.
Additionally, inspector general's office concluded that the woman's misconduct would have been discovered sooner had her supervisor been more diligent in the supervision of Samples.
The office of the Ohio inspector general determined Samples failed to report for 30 days a total of 179 hours and 10 minutes of leave time.
Based on her rate of pay and associated benefits for the 30 days in question, it was determined the woman's irregularities cost the state a total of $7,203.22.
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