Survey of the Texas Employment Commission

GAO investigated the Texas Employment Commission (TEC), part of the federal-state employment service network, where employees acted questionably by using information obtained in their official capacity to further the interests of their professional association and by recording and reporting job placements for full-time TEC employees and their relatives even though these people did not seek employment through TEC. A TEC employee learned that a department store in San Antonio, Texas, needed workers for an inventory. The TEC employee, and the San Antonio president of the Texas chapter of the International Association of Personnel in Employment Security (IAPES), decided that the prospective inventory would be a good way for the local club to raise money and the chapter adopted the inventory as a fund raising project. The San Antonio TEC District Director approved the project. Another TEC office reported 30 job placements for the IAPES participants who worked in that office, for other TEC employees, and for their relatives, even though TEC had not referred the 30 volunteers to the store for a job or an interview. This was contrary to Department of Labor and TEC requirements which specify that an individual must be referred to the employer for a job or an interview before a placement can be recorded. In the GAO opinion, this represents questionable activity and the matter has been referred to Labor for further investigation and action.