The Navajo Nation Special Review - navajoauditor.org

1 :DianaDeChilly,AssociateAuditorOFFICEOFT HEAUDITORGENERALTheNavajoNationSpecialRe viewofNavajoNationPaidHolidaysOfficeof the Auditor General> ,CIA,GEEThe NavajoNation---AuditorGeneralM-E-M-O-R-A -N-D-U-MTO:NAVAJONATIONCOUNCILFROM'CIA,C FEA uditorGeneralOFFICEOFTHEAUDITORGENERALDA TE:April12, 2017 SUBJECT : Special Review of NavajoNationpaidhoUdaysThe Office oftheAuditorGeneralhereby transmitsreportno. 17-29, A Special Review ofNavajo Nationpaidholidays. This Review wasconductedtodeterminethe financial andperformance impact if the number of Navajo Nation paidhoHdayswere reduced and these paidholidayschangedtoworkingholidaysfor Review wasrequestedby theChairpersonof the Health, EducationandHumanServices Committee. Thereviewcovereda three-yearperiodof fiscal year2014,2015, , the NavajoNationobserves 13 paid NavajoNationpaidholidays iscomparablewith other Indian tribes, it exceeded thenumberof paidholidaysobservedby the federalandstategovernmentswhich is 10 holidays.

2 We alsofoimdthenumberofpaidhoHdaysobservedb y the NavajoNationjudicialbranchexceeded theexecutiveandlegislativebranchesby at least on thenumberof NavajoNationobservedholidaysthatexceeded the 10holidaysobserved byfederal/stategovernments,wedeterminedl ossproductivityandadditionalcost onpayingemployees forworkingon a holiday. For the three-year period, the excesshoUdaysamountedto $ millionavoidablecost for the Navajo Nation . Thisamountrepresents1% a percentage of the total payroll, the financial impact is rninimal, but performance impactcouldnotbe , there is a riskthata reductionofpaidhoHdayscould negatively impact employee morale, increase staffturnover, thebodyof :JonathanHale,ChairpersonHEALTH,EDUCATIO NANDHUMANSERVICESCOMMITTEESethDamon, Box 708 / Window Rock, AZ86515/ Ph.(928)871-6303,6304 / Fax(928)871-6054/ E-mail: and Methodology3 NavajoNation paid cost due toexcesspaid Office of the Auditor General conducted a Special Review of Navajo Nation paid holidaysandholidaypay.

3 The Review wasrequestedby thechairpersonof the Health,Education&HumanServicesCommitteeo f the NavajoNationCouncil. Thechairpersonwantedtoknowwhatthe financialandperformanceimpactswotildbe to the NavajoNationif paidholidayswere reduced. This meant changing certain paid holidays to working :The Fair LaborStandardsAct(FLSA)doesnotrequirepay mentfor timenotworked,suchasvacations orholidays(federal or otherwise). These benefitswhetherpaid,unpaid,orpartiallypa idare generally anagreementbetweentheemployerandan employee (or theemployee'srepresentative).1 For tire NavajoNationgovernment,theagreementbetwe enthe NavajoNationanditsemployeesis :The NavajoNationis athree-branchgovernment:executive, NavajoNationPersonnelPolicy Manual. The executivebranchis thelargestof the three brancheswithabout4,000regularemployees while the legislativebranchis the smallestwithapproximately90regularemploy ees.

4 Judicialbranchemployees are coveredimderthe Judicial Branch Employee NavajoNationexecutiveandlegislativebranc hesobserve13holidays. All employees excepttemporaryemployees are eligible forpaidholidays. Forthe judicial branch, their policy allowsdieChief Justice to declareadditionalholidaysduringthecalend aryear. The Chief Justice will issue amemorandumat thebeginningofthe fiscal the executiveandlegislativebranchpersonnelpo licies, anyemployee who isrequiredtoworkon aholidayanddoesworkshall bepaidtwicehis/herregularrate of pay. According to theDepartmentof Personnel Management,holiday pay is usuallyintendedfor employeesthatare first responders such as policeofficers, firefighters,dispatchers,correction officers,EMTs,etc. Many of these the judicial branch, its personnel policies stipulatesthatif work isauthorizedon aholiday, the employee will begrantedcompensatorytimeuponapproval.

5 ^ forfiscalyears2014,2015and2016:Totalpayr ollcostforthethree-yearperiodbybranchand fiscalyearis asfollows:BYBRANCHBYFISCALYEARE xecutive$ 495,016,68492%FY2014$ 179,722,91833%Legislative18,365,7703%FY2 015183,446,59934%Judicial27,911,0005%FY2 016178,123,93733%TOTAL$ 541,293,454100%TOTAL$ 541,293,454100%Source;Human ResourceInformation SystemTotalpayrollincludesadministrative leave,annualleave,annualleavepayout,bonu spayments,compensatorytime,deferredcompe nsation,holiday pay,overtime,paidholidays,rateadjustment s,regularpay,retroactivepay,sickleave,sp ecialpay, of Navajo Nation Paid Holidays - by branch and fiscal year:Thefollowingtablesummarizesthetotal amountforall the paidholidaysandholidaypayforthe threebranchesover theexecutiveandlegislativebranches,the the judicial branch, the total number of paid holidaysvariedforeachfiscalyear:18 paidhoUdaysin2014,16 paidholidaysin2015and 17 shouldbenotedthattheamoimtswiUfluctuateb asedon thenumberofemployeesat the :HolidayPayPaidHolidaysTOTALFY2014FY2015 FY2016$594,4007,124,256$625,9837,244,517 $548,4677,163,641$ 7,718,656$ 7,870,500$ 7,712,108 JUDICIALBRANCH.

6 HolidayPayPaidHolidaysTOTAL$335522,056$4 37528,909$409571,486$ 522,391$ 529,346$ 571,895 LEGISLATIVEBRANCH:HolidayPayPaidHolidays TOTAL$1,342192,091$616195,389$531196,766 $ 193,433$ 196,005$197,297 GRANDTOTAL$ 8,434,480$ 8,595,851$ 8,481,300 Soiuce:HumanResourceInformationSystemOBJ ECTIVE,SCOPE, meet ourobjective,we performed thefollowingprocedures: ReviewedapplicableNavajoNationlaws,regul ations,policies,procedures,andreportsreg ardingpaidhoHdays. Determinedthedifferencebetweenpaidholida yandhoHdaypaybasedonpoHcies. ObtaineddatafromtheDepartmentofPersonnel Managementregardingpaidholidays,andholid aypay basedon theHxunanResourceInformationSystem. Interviewedstaff from theDepartmentofPersonnelManagementandOff iceof theControllerPayrollSectiontogainanxmder standingof howpayrolldata ismaintainedand how amounts forhoHdaypay and paidholidaysarecalculated. Researchedsimilarinformationon paidholidayandhoHdaypay fromfederal,state,andothertribalgovernme nts.

7 Performedcomparativeanalysesof theNavajoNationhoHdaysto thenumberof paidhoHdays for the federalgovernment;the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah;andfourtribalgovernments. Usingthefederal/statehoHdaysas thebenchmark,computedlossproductivitydue toexcesshoHdaysand additionalcostforhoHdaypay byfiscalyear Review covered the three-year period theAuditorGeneralexpressesappreciationto theDepartmentofPersonnelManagementandOff iceof theControUerPayroUSectionfor 'sEveNewYear'sDayNewYear's DayNewYear'sDayMartinLutherKing, Luther King, , 'sDayPresident'sDayPresident'sDayGood FridayNavajoNationSovereigntyDayNavajoNa tionSovereigntyDayNavajoNationSovereignt yDayMemorialDayMemorialDayMemorialDayNav ajoNationMemorialDayNavajoNationMemorial DayNavajoNationMemorialDayIndependenceDa yIndependenceDayIndependenceDayNavajoCod eTalkersDayNavajoCodeTalkersDayNavajoCod eTalkersDayLaborDayLabor DayLabor DayVeteransDayVeteransDayVeteransDayThan ksgivingEveThanksgivingDayThanksgivingDa yTharrksgiving DayNavajoNationFamilyDayNavajoNationFami lyDayNavajoNationFamilyDayChristmasEveCh ristmasDayChristmasDayChristmasDaySoiirc e:HumanResourceInformationSystemThejudic ialbranchhumanresourcesdirectorexplained theadditionalholidaysaresimilarto theadministrativeleavetypicallygranted for , , , ,the average number of.

8 TheNavajoNationSovereigntyDay,theNavajoN ationMemorialDay, the federal and state 'sDayNewYear'sDayNew Year's DayNewYear'sDayNewYear'sDayMartinLutherK ing, , , , , 'sDayWashington'sBirthdayPresident'sDayP resident'sDayPresident'sDayNavajoNationS overeigntyDayMemorialDayMemorialDayMemor ialDayMemorialDayMemorialDayNavajoNation '..:jIndependenceDayIndependenceDayIndep endenceDayIndependenceDayIndependenceDay NavajoCodeTalkersDayPioneerDayLaborDayLa bor DayLaborDayLaborDayLaborDayColumbusDayCo lumbusDayColumbusDayColumbusDayVeteransD ayVeteransDayVeteransDayVeteransDayVeter ansDayThanksgivingDayThanksgivingDayThan ksgivingDayThanksgivingThanksgivingDayHH iiChristmasDayChristmasDayChristmasDayCh ristmasDayChristmasDaySotirce:Human ResourceInformation System and research offederal/stategovernment included other tribalgovernmentsbut theirinformationon paidholidayswas not readily available especially for surrounding tribal governments such as theZimi,Hopi, and Ute tribes.

9 We were also unable to gather information from tribes that would beconsideredcomparableto theNavajoNation in terms ofmembership,budget, ,we obtained information from four tribes and like theNavajoNation, eachtriberecognizesone or moreholidaysthatspecificallyobservehisto ricalsignificancefortheir tribe or to hold these fourtribes,the average number ,theNavajoNationwas found to becomparablewith theNavajoNation paidhoUdaysto the four tribal 'sDayMartinLutherKing, 'sDayNavajoNationSovereigntyDayMemorialD ayNavajoNationMemorialDayIndependenceDay NavajoCodeTalkersDayLaborDayVeteransDayT hanksgivingDayNavajoNationFamilyDayChris tmasDayWhiteMountainApacheTribeWhiterive r,Arizona13 HolidaysNewYear' , 'sDayGoodFridayMemorialDayIndependenceDa yLaborDayColumbusDayVeteransDayThanksgiv ingDayDayafterThanksgivingChristmasDayWh iteMountainApacheDayAk-ChinIndianCommuni tyMaricopa,Arizona13 HolidaysNewYear's DayMartinLutherKing, ,NewMexico11 HoUdaysNewYear'sDayKingsDayMartinLutherK ing, 's DayPresident's DayGoodFridayMemorialDayIndependenceDayL aborDayIndigenousDayVeteransDayThanksgiv ingDayNativeAmericanHeritageDayChristmas DayMassikTa:sMemorialDayIndependenceDayP uebloRevoltDayLaborDayVeteransDayThanksg ivingDayChristmasDay>.

10 1 Source:HumanResourceInformationSystem andreseardiof tribalgovernmentinformationShoshoneandAr apahoTribesFortWashakie,Wyoming13 HoUdaysNewYear'sDayMartinLutherKing, ' LossproductivityforNavajoNationpaidholid aysthatexceedtheaverage10holidaysobserve dbyfedera^ foUowing tablesrepresentlossproductivityfor each fiscalyearbetween2014and2016basedon thepaidholidaysthatare in excess of the 10paidholidaysidentifiedfor excesshoHdayswas calculated foreachholidayby eachbranchof the NavajoNationgovernmentandfor each fiscal year for atotal of $ million for *$ 16,654$ 16,65412/24/13 ChristmasEve*16,75116,751rH12/31/13 NewYear'sEve*16,70016,700<N4/18/14 GoodFriday*16,89016,890Ph4/28/14 NavajoNationSovereigntyDay$550,876$15375 33,779600,0305/26/14 NavajoNationMemorialDay526,49914,51234,0 19575,0307/3/14 Day Before July4*^*16,55916,5598/14/14 NavajoCodeTalkersDay539.