Do-not-hire list needs a fix

It's time to fix or toss the state's do-not-hire list.

Thanks to the reporting of the Associated Press and other news outlets, we now know that more than 1,400 former state employees have been flagged in a government database as being ineligible for rehiring. At one point, the Department of Administrative Services denied that such a list existed. Now, they claim its existence is authorized by state rules.

But a string of rulings by state administrative law judges tell a different story. In 2009, two rulings questioned whether the DAS has the statutory authority to compile such a list and bar former employees from ever being rehired. The department's response was to stop informing former employees that they're on the list, unless they reapply for state work.

In 2011, an administrative law judge again ruled that the department is not authorized by law to compile the list. And yet, the Branstad administration has added more names.

Now, some of those employees have filed a lawsuit challenging the list, charging that it's compiled without proper procedures, explanation or due process. The state and its taxpayers are exposed to a possible judgment that could mean substantial damages for hundreds of workers.

We can understand the need for flagging former state employees who have been terminated for serious instances of misconduct. But the so-called 'blacklist” at issue goes much further. We're troubled by what appears to be a lack of concrete procedures and explanations for deciding who should not be rehired. Within those gaps there is considerable room for abuses.

So if the state wants to continue flagging former employees who are barred from state service, Iowa lawmakers and the governor must give agencies the statutory authority to do it. And that legislation must set out a clear process for compiling the list and for appeals by former workers who believe they should not be on it.

And if state leaders can't agree on those processes, the list should be scrapped.

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