UNM internal auditors concluded in April that a University employee should not have been paid a full-time salary during part of her time in law school. In her response to the findings, however, the employee contends the audit report was flawed.
The audit focused on Kari Ward Karr, former director of UNM's Counseling Assistance and Referral Services, or CARS, who worked as director at the same time she was attending UNM's School of Law.
Based on their investigation, auditors concluded Ward Karr was paid between $5,659 and $11,056 for 204 to 400 hours she did not work.
Ward Karr, director of CARS from 1990 until April, did not work full-time during the fall 1999 semester - her first at the UNM School of Law, the report states.
Law school policy prohibits students from working during their first semester.
The University paid Ward Karr a stipend equal to two-thirds of her salary during fall 1999 as part of an educational package.
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The audit concerned the spring 2000 semester, Ward Karr's second, during which the policy states students can't work more than 15 hours per week. Ward Karr was paid a full-time salary during that semester, according to the report.
Auditors recommended that University counsel seek to recover the money "overpaid" to Ward Karr.
UNM Attorney Nick Estes would not say if Ward Karr repaid the money.
Ward Karr still works at UNM and is paid $7,300 a year as a professional consultant for Academic Affairs, University payroll records show.
She would not describe the kind of work she does for UNM, and would not say if she paid back the money the report stated she owed.
"The University and I have resolved our differences, and I have no further comment," Ward Karr said.
In her response to the "pre-final" version of the report, Ward Karr wrote " ... receiving monies for hours worked or not worked is not relevant to the pay structure of exempt employees. Firmly, I was not an hourly worker and was never paid for hours worked ... I was paid for task completion, expected to 'meet operational needs' and evaluated on 'results achieved.'"
UNM Business Policy No. 3300 states "Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, exempt employees are paid a regular salary and are not paid based on the number of hours worked."
The audit report does not state Ward Karr received any negative performance evaluations during the semester in question.
In the response, Ward Karr alleges the University didn't include documentation she provided that would have been vital to the investigation's integrity.
"I had restored as much of the actual evidence as I could from the Oct. 6, 2002 Audit Discussion Draft and the original responses I gave to Audit on Oct. 17, 2002, which Audit left out of the Dec. 20 Pre-Final and have provided additional responses to the Pre-Final in the lengthy reply document I prepared, now edited by UNM."
Estes and Audit Director Yvonne Cox declined to discuss specifics of Ward Karr's case.
