21 Annual Report and Long-Range Plan | Fiscal Year 2022-23 Reduction of Year-Old Cases In FY 2022-23, PSU faced significant staffing issues and a swell of new priority cases, both of which impacted its ability to reduce aging cases. Nearly half of PSU’s attorney positions were vacant at the start of the fiscal year (41%) and, of the 5,137 new cases that were received, 27.1% were priority cases (or 1,391). Despite the staffing shortage and influx of priority cases, PSU ended the fiscal year with a total of 4,940 cases and reduced its attorney vacancy rate by 34%. Of the 4,940 cases remaining at the end of the fiscal year, 34.0% (or 1,679) were over one year old as compared to the 26.5% at close of FY 2021-22 (Figure 10). To reduce the year and older cases, PSU concentrated its efforts on resolving the oldest cases in its inventory. The oldest cases typically have aged due to complexities in the case, which require more effort to bring to a final resolution. By eliminating the oldest cases, PSU attorneys can allocate more time to resolving more recent complaints. For this fiscal year, 81.1% of the cases that were over one year old were from 2021 to 2022, meaning those cases were two or less years old. Truly complex, fully contested cases often will not be resolved within one year; referral to the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) is essential to bringing about timely resolution. As such, PSU has emphasized the importance of referring cases to DOAH through performance expectations. As a result, PSU referred 100 cases in FY 2022-23 to DOAH for assignment to an Administrative Law Judge. Figure 10: Total Cases Compared to Year and Older Cases* *At the close of the fiscal year.
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