Dateline: August 13, 2015 

By taking too long to punish its misbehaving employees, the Environmental Protection Agency  (EPA) is building a dangerous “culture of complacency,” according to federal inspector general.

Examples of the unpunished misbehavior reported by EPA Inspector General (IG) Arthur A. Elkins Jr., included EPA employees browsing pornography at work on government computers, a supervisor allowing an employee to turn in false time sheets, and a senior executive who was working a second job on government time.


You have to wonder if the “culture of complacency” suggested by the IG could have contributed to the recent disastrous toxic mine waste spill into Colorado’s Animas River, admittedly triggered by EPA employees.

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The failure to swiftly deal with misbehaving employees was just one of six “management challenges” IG Elkins says are facing the EPA. The other five range from better management of chemical risks, to improved oversight of the states’ implementation of EPA federal regulations, and better protection against online cyber threats to the environment.

In his report, IG Elkins said EPA management needs to take “prompt action” to deal with employees proven guilty of misconduct, especially misconduct resulting in fraudulent or abusive use of taxpayer funds.

As examples of employee misconduct the EPA should have taken “prompt action” to punish, but did not, IG Elkins cited:

• Two employees proven to have been spending from 1 to 6 hours a day viewing and downloading pornography on EPA computers during work hours were allowed to remain on paid administrative leave for almost a year before the EPA got around to firing them. One employee retired with full federal employee benefits, while the other is appealing the firing and is still on paid administrative leave, thank you very much.|
   

• An EPA senior executive proven in December 2013 to have been “engaged in private business activities” – moonlighting --  during EPA work time using EPA office space and equipment was finally place on paid administrative leave in November 2014. During the investigation, the employee received a Presidential Meritorious Rank Award for $33,928. Today, the employee remains on paid administrative leave, with the $33,928 merit award still in his or her pocket, while he or she appeals the decision.
   
• Another EPA senior executive proven in June 2013 to have been knowingly approving fraudulent time and attendance and travel vouchers submitted by EPA another employee for over 10 years was allowed to retire on February 28, 2015, without administrative action ever being taken.

As you can tell, the EPA, like most other federal government agencies, often uses paid administrative leave as a form of “punishment.” Sticking the word “administrative” between “paid” and “leave” is supposed to tell you that the employee is actually being punished while getting paid to sit at home for months or even years.

In the early stages of an ongoing investigation into EPA’s use of paid administrative leave, the IG’s office has so far identified eight employees who had been placed on paid administrative leave totaling 20,926 hours and costing taxpayers an estimated $1,096,868.

Not a New Problem at the EPA

The IG’s office first criticized EPA management for delaying disciplinary actions in 2007, when the average time from discovery to punishment topped 200 days. Also in 2007, the IG also criticized the EPA for not punishing misbehaving employees severely enough and for using paid administrative leave too often.

While the EPA agreed in 2007 and promised to take corrective action, the IG’s latest report notes that the agency’s handbook laying out its disciplinary process, written in 1998, has still not been revised.

“The agency needs to continue to confront this culture of complacency,” wrote the IG. “Failure to do so could seriously affect agency resources, impacting the ability of the agency to achieve its mission and goals.”