§ 74-840-1.18. Payment of administrative costs and expenses.

A.  The administrative expenses and costs of operating the Merit System shall be paid by the various divisions of the state government included within the Merit System, and each such agency shall be authorized to include in its budget estimates its pro rata share of such costs, and shall remit such shares quarterly from departmental or agency funds to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services who shall deposit such shares to the credit of the General Revenue Fund of the State Treasury.

B.  The Director shall maintain accurate records reflecting the costs of administering its provisions, and at the close of each quarter-year period shall summarize said costs, and shall bill each department or agency included within the terms of the Oklahoma Personnel Act with a pro rata share of the administrative costs based on the relationship between the quarterly average number of employees in the classified service of such department or agency, and the quarterly average number of employees in the classified service of the state.

C.  The Director shall separately categorize and estimate expenditures and budget needs for other services performed which are not appropriately charged to state agencies on a pro rata basis.

D.  Any state agency for which the Director provides payroll services shall pay for such services at a rate established by the Director, which shall be based upon the cost to the Director of providing such services.  Each agency shall remit payment for such services quarterly from departmental or agency funds to the Director who shall deposit such payments into the Office of Management and Enterprise Services Revolving Fund created in Section 840-1.20 of this title.

E.  No state disbursing or auditing officer shall make or approve or take any part in making or approving any payment for personal service to any person holding a position in the state classified service, brought under the Oklahoma Personnel Act unless the payroll voucher or account of such pay bears the certification of the appointing authority or designee, that the persons named therein have been appointed and employed in accordance with the provisions of the Oklahoma Personnel Act and the rules promulgated hereunder.  The appointing authority or designee may for proper cause withhold certification from an entire payroll or from any specific item or items thereon.

Any citizen may maintain a suit to restrain a disbursing officer from making any payment in contravention of any provision of the Oklahoma Personnel Act or rules promulgated hereunder.  Any sum paid contrary to any provision of the Oklahoma Personnel Act or any rule promulgated hereunder may be recovered in an action maintained by any citizen, from any officer who made, approved or authorized such payment or who signed or countersigned a voucher, payroll, check or warrant for such payment, or from the sureties on the official bond of any such officer.  All monies recovered in any such action shall be paid into the State Treasury.

Any person appointed or employed in contravention of any provision of the Oklahoma Personnel Act or any rules or orders promulgated hereunder, whose employment is brought within the terms of the Oklahoma Personnel Act, who performs service for which he or she is not paid, may maintain an action against the officer or officers who purported to appoint or employ the person to recover the agreed pay for such services, or the reasonable value thereof if no pay was agreed upon.  No officer shall be reimbursed by the state at any time for any sum paid to such person on account of such services.

If the appointing authority or designee wrongfully withholds certification of the payroll voucher or account of any employee, such employee may maintain an action or proceeding in the courts to compel the appointing authority or designee to certify such payroll voucher or account.

Added by Laws 1982, c. 338, § 14, eff. July 1, 1982.  Amended by Laws 1983, c. 288, § 1, operative July 1, 1983.  Renumbered from § 840.14 of this title by Laws 1994, c. 242, § 54.  Amended by Laws 2003, c. 212, § 8, eff. July 1, 2003; Laws 2004, c. 312, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2004; Laws 2005, c. 176, § 1, eff. July 1, 2005; Laws 2012, c. 304, § 869.