An Albuquerque city employee was caught repeatedly sleeping on the job, leading to an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General (IG) that uncovered additional problems in the Solid Waste Department.
The IG's office was alerted by a 311 call in September complaining about a city of Albuquerque employee sleeping for hours in a city car. The employee was supposed to be spraying and pulling weeds. Instead, the Solid Waste employee was asleep while parked near Coal Avenue SE and Sierra Drive SE, KRQE reported.
The IG’s office began its investigation by using a GPS to track the city employee for three days. Instead of visiting various locations, the employee’s vehicle was idle anywhere from four to nearly six hours of an eight-hour shift.
According to the report filed by the IG, from June to September, the employee wasted more than $400 in fuel as the engine idled while he slept. It also said he got paid nearly $3,000 for hours not actually worked.
“The Inspector General’s Office provides meaningful checks and balances for city government," Solid Waste Management Director, Matthew Whelan, said in an email to KRQE News, “We have received a copy of the IG report, and are currently going through the city’s disciplinary process.”
The employee admitted to sleeping while on the clock, the report said, but he blamed his fatigue on a medical condition and said that the supervisor approved resting in the vehicle.
The supervisor, according to the report, was aware of the employee’s medical condition, but said that the employee never requested to rest in the vehicle. The IG’s office said there is not enough evidence to substantiate or disprove either claim.
Meanwhile, the report took aim at the Solid Waste Department stating, “Overall, the Department’s practices are significantly lacking in internal controls with policies and procedures and general oversight deficiencies which make the City susceptible to fraud, waste, and abuse.”
The report offered nine recommendations which included retraining staff on policies, spot-checking to make sure herbicides are used where they should be, and creating a dispatch system to document communication among staff.
The napping city employee was reassigned and no longer operates city vehicles or equipment, according to the report. It also said the Solid Waste Department is working with the employee’s union to get documentation of the medical condition and what restrictions apply to the employee.
