State keeps do-not-hire database

Public agencies in Iowa flag employees they don't want to rehire — a practice that is legal, but some say discriminatory.

The Department of Administrative Services (DAS) provided a database to The Gazette Thursday that includes 974 people excluded from state employment after being fired by the state from Jan. 20, 1990, to April 2.

Another 600 employees who were fired during their probationary period or who were at-will employees also are barred from rehire.

Click here to see a copy of the state's "do-not-hire" list.

Former state employees excluded from rehire often don't know it until or unless they apply for another state job.

'Since they have discriminated against me in countless other things, I'm not surprised,' Nancy Brady, a former Iowa Law Enforcement Academy trainer, said about being barred from rehire.

Brady was fired in 2012 after complaining about sexist comments another trainer made to female colleagues and students, she said.

When state employees are terminated for cause, officials insert coding into their files that indicate they are barred from future state jobs, DAS Spokesman Caleb Hunter said. The names of those employees are not regularly kept as a list, but recently were compiled into a database for the Associated Press, he said.

This do-not-hire coding is allowed by Iowa's administrative code Section 54.2(6), which says a director may 'remove an applicant from a list of eligibles' if the applicant was previously discharged from a position in state government.

'Applicants disqualified or removed under this subrule shall be notified in writing by the director within five workdays following removal,' the Code states. 'Applicants may informally request that the director reconsider their disqualification or removal by submitting additional written evidence of their qualifications or reasons why they should not be removed.'

Former DAS Director Mike Carroll told members of the Legislature's Government Oversight committee last week about the do-not-hire policy. The testimony was part of hearings on at least $427,000 in secret settlements paid to 24 employees in 12 state agencies.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad fired Carroll Tuesday after evidence surfaced Carroll may have lied about whether he knew his agency had paid 'hush money' to terminated employees.

Gazette reporter Rod Boshart contributed to this report.