DAS manager at center of probe over COBRA checks - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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The Office of the State Inspector in a reportreleased Tuesday, outlines an investigation into the department, specifically the operation that administersd the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA, program. That piecr of 1986 federal legislation allows unemployed workers to buy healtbh insurance coverage for up to18 months. Davied Holbrook, chief of the COBRA division sincelast year, is the target of the state’s effortt to fire him after investigatorsx said hundreds of COBRAq payment checks went missing under his Investigators found more than 500 checks, aboug 200 more than originally thought, valued at about $214,000 in a credenza in Holbrook’s officer on April 10.
Holbrook, 45, by that time was on paid administrativd leave and no longer had anoffice key. He deniesd any knowledge of the checks or how they got into his According tothe report, it was unclea r if he was purposefully holdinfg the checks. The department said Tuesday therewas “nlo indication that premium funds were misappropriated.” A key factod behind the missing checks, the probe found, was a “dual accountinb process” that was employed because the departmen t opted not to switch its COBRw records to a new Ohio Administrative Knowledge or OAKS, aimed at improving operations.
That decision, combined with the retiremeny ofthe division’s former chief, triggered what the report called a “disaster” in processing. The probe also foundc Holbrook, who once workes in the state Department of Naturao Resources and Department ofYouth Services, had a recored of inappropriate conduct in stat jobs that was described as a “pattern of dishonesy behavior.” At the Administrative Servicese Department, he earned a base annual wage of The department in a statement Tuesday said it has put in placew stronger controls on COBRA processing, specifically switching to and worked with those affected by the misplace checks.
The state probe had recommendeed changes to COBRA processing operations along with an The Department of Administrative Services also indicate d disciplinary actions might notbe over. “We are reviewinv the Inspector General’s report and determining the appropriatde course of action for otheremployees involved,” Directort Hugh Quill said. Investigators also looked into anonymoua tips thatHolbrook didn’t follow time reportiny policies and refused to pay employees for deniedx vacation time they were permitte to cash in.
The inspector’s offices found some instances of wrongdoing or omissionson Holbrook’se part and that of the department at large, recommendiny that the vacation policy itself be reviewed.