An independent employment law firm says it found no evidence of forgery or email monitoring at the Maricopa County Community College District. But the investigation did reveal “serious departmental issues within the district.” 

The allegations were brought to the district governing board’s attention in February by an employee group known as the Classified Staff Council.

The most serious being allegations of document tampering over the district’s reduction in force policy. The document CSC members found posted online was a version of the policy that employee group leaders hadn’t ratified but included their signatures. During a presentation to the governing board CSC president Kris Bliss described the situation this way:

"It appears as though some effort was made to cut and paste signatures from one document to the other but the language on which the signatures are affixed is not the language that the signers actually reviewed and therefore ratified," she explained.

The community college system Chancellor launched an independent investigation a month later. According to the findings, officials in the human resources department did not commit forgery on the grounds there was no intent to defraud. Instead, the investigation found that what happened was “a complete lack of document and version control.”

"The chancellor is committed to addressing those issues," said Matt Hasson, a spokesman for MCCCD. "There’s not a timeline per se but she’s got to consider this report in its entirety. She’s going to evaluate her options and make a decision that’s best for the system."

Officials with the employee group that made the allegations didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

EDITOR'S NOTE: KJZZ is licensed to the Maricopa Community Colleges.