DWP Banned From Using Civil Service Ratings : Workplace: Action comes in response to charges that results were manipulated to favor certain people for high-level promotions.

Responding to allegations of rigged promotions in the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, angry Civil Service commissioners voted Friday to ban the department’s use of Civil Service ratings.

“The commission was upset and outraged that these types of actions would occur,” said the Rev. Kenneth J. Flowers, president of the Board of Civil Service Commissioners. “This was a serious violation of personnel policy.”

The board voted unanimously to discontinue the so-called ratings of promotability, which a personnel department investigation determined were manipulated by some DWP managers to benefit favored candidates for high-level jobs. Although the investigation did not look into motives for the practice, some minority employees complained that it was used to discriminate against them.

Flowers said the findings were the most recent in a steady stream of complaints to the commission about bias in promotions within the 11,000-employee municipal utility. He said the department has “a history of a large number of complaints,” prompting the commission to write a letter last month to DWP officials demanding an explanation.

“We are concerned, and we had to send a message to them that we will not tolerate this,” Flowers said. “We will be doing our very best to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

DWP officials defended their use of the ratings system and asked that it be retained, saying that it played an important role in evaluating employees and determining promotions. Officials said they will work with the commission over the next few months to find a way to reinstate the process.

Kenneth Miyoshi, assistant chief engineer, denied that ratings were altered to favor certain employees, arguing instead that the system has helped minorities advance within the department by allowing those who make the ratings to discuss scores. The personnel department said such discussions violate the independent rating process. Miyoshi said they help ensure that raters use the same criteria.

“We believe the (rating) allows us to get the best candidates we possibly can,” Miyoshi said. “These are high-level jobs and we need a process that involves more than written examinations and a short oral interview.”

Michael Moore, DWP director of public affairs, said that in the last eight years of using the ratings, a large number of minorities have been promoted to the two high-level job classifications that require the rankings. He said 29% of those promoted to the position of senior power engineer have been minorities, while 42% of those promoted to principal power engineers have been minorities.

“This puts a cloud over the whole process of selecting personnel here,” Moore said of the commission’s action. “It disturbs us that our employees now feel an unfair system was used here to select management personnel. . . . We feel what we did was fair and we stand by it.”