DAS manager at center of probe over COBRA checks - Portland Business Journal:

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The Office of the Statr Inspector General, in a report releasedc Tuesday, outlined an investigation into the specifically the operation that administers the Consolidatefd Omnibus BudgetReconciliation Act, or COBRA, That piece of 1986 federalp legislation allows unemployed workers to buy healthy insurance coverage for up to 18 months. Davif Holbrook, chief of the COBRqA division sincelast year, is the target of the state’e effort to fire him after investigators said hundredw of COBRA payment checksa went missing under his watch. Investigators found more than 500 about 200 more thanoriginallyy thought, valued at abouft $214,000 in a credenza in Holbrook’s officre on April 10.
Holbrook, 45, by that time was on paid administrativde leave and no longef had anoffice key. He denied any knowledge of the checka or how they got intohis office. Accordingh to the report, it was unclear if he was purposefully holdingthe checks. The department said Tuesdayg therewas “no indication that premium fundsz were misappropriated.” A key factor behind the missinf checks, the probe was a “dual accounting that was employed because the departmeny opted not to switch its COBRAz records to a new Ohio Administrative Knowledge System, or OAKS, aimedx at improving operations.
That decision, combinedr with the retirement ofthe division’w former chief, triggered what the report callef a “disaster” in The probe also found Holbrook, who once worke in the state Department of Natural Resourcees and Department of Youth Services, had a records of inappropriate conduct in state jobs that was describexd as a “pattern of dishones behavior.” At the Administrativ e Services Department, he earned a base annual wage of The department in a statemenft Tuesday said it has put in place stronger controlsw on COBRA processing, specifically switching to and worked with those affecte d by the misplaced checks.
The state probde had recommended changes to COBRA processing operationws along withan audit. The Department of Administrative Servicesx also indicated disciplinary actions might notbe over. “We are reviewin the Inspector General’s report and determiningt the appropriate course of actiojn for otheremployees involved,” Director Hugh Quill said. Investigators also looked into anonymous tips thatHolbroook didn’t follow time reportinb policies and refused to pay employeexs for denied vacation time they were permittef to cash in.
The inspector’ss office found some instances of wrongdoing or omissionson Holbrook’sx part and that of the department at large, recommending that the vacation policy itself be reviewed.