LAZY EMPLOYEES OF THE WEEK: ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE
by Hazed
The small Italian town of Boscotrecase, not far from Naples, has a staffing problem. It has had to shut down most of its municipal services because there aren’t enough people to run them.
The reason for the lack of staff is that many of them have been arrested! Police took about half of the mayor’s staff into custody because they were fiddling their hours. Staff were filmed clocking in and then leaving to do their own thing rather than do any work. Some used multiple swipe cards to register colleagues who were absent.
In a police video, one man is seen trying to tamper with the security camera and then, when that fails, putting a cardboard box over his head to hide his identify before swiping two different cards.
The 23 who were arrested included the head of the local traffic police and the head of the town’s accounting department. They have all been accused of fraud against the state and have been suspended from work for between six and 12 months. They all risk eventual dismissal.
The mayor of the town, Pietro Carotenuto, who was elected a month ago, said that he had been forced to shut four major town hall departments due to lack of staff.
This is all part of an ongoing scandal of absenteeism in Italy’s public sector.
