Admin Leave During Investigations Costly
From the
Washington Times:
The Social Security Administration paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years to a handful of employees who were placed on administrative leave for more than half a year while officials considered misconduct accusations against them or their involvement in illegal acts.
The agency’s Office of Inspector General said in a report dated Friday and made public Wednesday that from October 2005 through January 2009, 17 employees each racked up at least 1,000 hours — or 25 weeks — of paid administrative leave totaling $1.5 million while officials considered their cases.
In one instance, two teleservice employees placed on paid administrative leave in February 2007 were arrested at their workplace “while in the act of blackmailing/extorting other SSA employees.”
Innocent until proven guilty. They should speed up the trail process if they're that concerned.
ReplyDeleteInnocent until proven guilty is a pretty lame excuse when you're caught in the act of blackmailing and/or extorting a co-worker.
ReplyDeleteDid I misread the link or was this article published in June of 2010?
ReplyDelete25 weeks over a 4 year period doesn't seem excessive. I think you have to assume there has to be some especially when you consider the agency employs over 65,000 people.
ReplyDeleteDon't blame SSA, blame the MSPB and the ever-looming threat that they will undermine your disciplinary action based on any weakness they find in your case.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention arbitrators. Taking action too quickly leads to allegations of due process denial or failure to consider mitigating circumstances. But taking too long to act leads to criticism like this report. Damned if you do...
ReplyDeleteIf these were private sector employees without the over protection of a union, ZERO dollars would have been lost.
ReplyDelete