Hiring practices at the Bonneville Power Administration appear to have effectively disadvantaged veterans and other applicants, the Energy Department’s inspector general has said in preliminary findings constituting a "magement alert."
The prohibited pratices involved modifying the best-qualified category after all job applications were received, and once the inappropriate practices were disclosed by human capital management staff and confirmed by independent sources, it appears that Bonneville did not take required action to notify the affected applicants that were disadvantaged and to address the impact of the inappropriate hiring that was associated with the prohibited practices, the IG said.
The audit was prompted by an anonymous complaint from June 2012, but the IG said the more alarming finding is that Bonneville has apparently proposed or recently executed a number of personnel actions against certain employees who have cooperated with the IG review.
The IG noted that such actions have a potentially chilling effect on further employee cooperation. However, it also said the department has initiated immediate corrective action.
