Press Release  Audit Advises Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination to Complete Discrimination Investigations on Time and Improve Controls Over COVID-19 Relief Funding

Boston — In an audit of Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination (MCAD) released today, the Office of State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump (OSA) found continuing delays in completing discrimination investigations and a failure to properly prepare for and handle $75,000 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds. This includes notifying the Office of the Comptroller upon receipt of funds, updating its internal control plan, and ensuring staff members responsible for the management of CARES Act funds had received cybersecurity awareness training. Today’s audit is part of a series of reports that examines state spending of COVID-19 federal funding.

“MCAD has experienced persistent staffing challenges, which were compounded by the pandemic crisis. It has begun to identify bottlenecks in its investigations, which will help remediate some of its delays, and I urge the agency to double down in this work,” said Bump. “Both the complainants and the accused deserve swift resolutions of these matters.”

During the audit period of January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2020, MCAD exceeded the allowable timeframe for completing 1,308 (45.8%) of the 2,854 discrimination investigations it completed. These investigations were categorized into being either: United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or non-HUD investigations. As shown in the chart below, of the 1,045 non-HUD investigations that exceeded the allowable timeframe, 504 (48.2%) were completed one day to six months late, and 528 (50.5%) were completed six to 24 months late. Additionally, 13 (1.3%) investigations took over 24 months to complete.

Separately, MCAD did not notify the Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth of its receipt of $75,000 in CARES Act funds in accordance with state policy. In addition, although MCAD did create a number of process changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it did not update its internal control plan to reflect its pandemic response and did not ensure that MCAD staff members responsible for the management of CARES Act funds had received cybersecurity awareness training.

The audit recommends that MCAD work to determine the number of investigators required to complete investigations on time. It also recommends that MCAD take the proper steps necessary to notify the Comptroller’s Office when receiving any CARES Act funds, amend and annually review its internal control plan to incorporate its pandemic response plan, and ensure cybersecurity awareness training is held annually for all employees. Based on its responses, the auditee is taking action on all recommendations.

MCAD is the independent state agency that enforces the anti-discrimination laws of the Commonwealth through training, mediation, investigations, prosecution and adjudication. Its budgeted revenue was $7,710,000 for fiscal year 2019 and $8,077,794 for fiscal year 2020, and in those years, the average annual number of cases was 3,000.

The audit can be viewed HERE.

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