Governor Dannel P. Malloy's General Counsel this afternoon wrote to the commissioners and department heads of each state agency, explaining the forthcoming steps the Malloy Administration and the Department of Social Services (DSS) will be taking in its investigation of possible fraud of the federally funded D-SNAP program by state employees, and instructing the agency heads to fully cooperate.

"As DSS continues its investigation, you may be contacted by personnel in DSS's anti-fraud unit concerning one or more employees in your department who may be the focus of their enforcement effort," General Counsel Andrew J. McDonald wrote in his memo. "If you are contacted by DSS with information about probable fraud involving an employee within your department, that information will be shared with you at the same time it is conveyed to the Office of Labor Relations (OLR)."

The memo continues, "Upon the receipt of any such referral, you are directed by the Governor to cooperate fully with DSS and OLR. It goes without saying that any employee who is suspected of defrauding the state is still entitled to all of the procedural rights afforded by law or contract. Any administrative investigation by your department against a state employee must be undertaken in conformity with those rights, and must only be taken after careful coordination with Linda Yelmini and her staff in the OLR."