Last Updated on January 16, 2025
The inspector general of the Interior Department warns government employees who claim to live in the District of Columbia actually reside in other states while claiming to live in the nation’s capitol to cheat Uncle Sam of extra pay.
These federal workers are receiving enhanced wages while residing in lower-cost regions.
Two federal Interior Department employees were discovered to live in Oregon, three were found to live in Colorado while another who is supposed to be working in the District of Columbia area resides in Southern California and rarely, if ever, travels to the nation’s capital.
Federal employees began egregiously milking the system during pandemic lockdowns. They never stopped, refusing to return to the office and the Biden administration has been indifferent to the deception, unwilling to address the issue or prod them.
Congressional Republicans are calling for President-elect Donald Trump to crack down on the no-shows.
In December, a memo produced by the inspector general was provided to Sen. Joni Ernst, R. – Iowa.
Ernst warned these employees working from home states away must be terminated.
“Department of Interior employees rarely see the interior of their office,” Ernst said. “Just 14% of Interior’s headquarters is being used while D.C. employees living elsewhere are overpaid more than $400,000. I am giving bureaucrats a simple choice: Get back to work or be fired.”
Rep. James Comer, R – Kentucky, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee contends federal employees are doing what they want rather than the taxpayer’s best interest.
“The lights may be on in federal buildings, but too many federal bureaucrats continue to work from home,” Comer said.
At least 10 percent of the federal workforce, approximately 228,000 employees, are working remotely and don’t ever actually show up to the office, according to a report released Wednesday by The House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
Committee investigators found that an additional 1.1 million federal employees are eligible for partial telework and nearly all of them are exploiting the system, working at their official worksites an average of two days a week.
At Health and Human Services, approximately a third of federal employees are working remotely. At the Department of Education, a staggering 55 percent of employees have never set foot at the worksite, while those who are supposed to be in the office, not permitted telework, are absent from the office for more than half their work hours.
Agency buildings subsequently are empty resembling ghost towns.
In photographs obtained by House Oversight and Reform Investigators, the Social Security building’s parking lot is seen completely vacant on a Wednesday work day at 11 am.
The committee said just one federal agency, the Veterans Benefits Administration is conducting “meaningful” effectiveness from telework.
Federal managers maintain they must liberally permit telework to maintain its workforce while competing with the private sector.
Last year, the inspector general discovered 48 employees claimed enhanced Washington area pay while living elsewhere. Of those, 40 didn’t even report to their worksites at least twice per pay period, in violation of rules.
Democrats and department heads defend the insist teleworking employees are producing more effectively while out of the office.
Biden administration officials claim their employees “show up every day.”
After leading a massive hiring spree at the IRS last year, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel told Congress the telework epidemic is crucial for productivity.
“We have to stay competitive in the labor market, and we want to make sure that we’re providing good flexibility versus what other employers might provide,” he said.
Meanwhile, a recent Government Accountability Office report confirms the offices of government agencies are usually a ghost town and a complete waste of taxpayer funds.
“The federal government owns over 460 million square feet of office space that costs billions annually to operate and maintain,” the report notes.
The government 24 agencies the GAO surveyed “spend about $2 billion a year to operate and maintain owned federal office buildings.”
“Federal agencies spend about $5 billion annually to lease office space from the private sector and from the federal government,” accounting for over 83 million square feet of office space,” the GAO notes, recommending the government “[dispose] of underutilized buildings in need of repair” as a cost-saving measure.
