Dozens of employees at the United States Census Bureau were paid more than $1 million for hours they never worked, according to a Commerce Department inspector general report.
The investigation brought to light the actions of 40 employees who were supposed to be conducting background checks on Census workers throughout the country but instead were "engaged in pervasive misconduct" over the course of several years, the Washington Examiner reports. The 40 officials fraudulently charged for 19,162 hours of work between 2010 and 2014 while performing no work, costing taxpayers nearly $1.1 million.
The Washington Examiner further writes on the "pervasive misconduct":
The watchdog found at least one employee in the Census Bureau's employment office who "used his official position as a personal hiring vehicle for friends and their families."
That employee, who was not identified, "was involved in a sexual relationship" with a contractor he personally interviewed, hired and supervised.
He also launched a year-long campaign to get a job at the Census Bureau for his friend's son, an effort that was apparently unsuccessful.
The inspector general found that dozens of employees claimed to have worked at least 19,162 hours during which they actually did not work at all between 2010-14. The "time and attendance abuse" drained nearly $1.1 million.
But after a whistleblower alerted the agency watchdog to the billing scheme, census officials attempted to "intimidate" anyone who was cooperating with the inspector general investigation.
Another unnamed employee repeatedly called the whistleblower a "coward" and a "chickenshit," among other names.