Posted on 07/31/2014 2:12:25 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
Dozens of federal employees at an obscure agency that handles appeals of patent applications went years with so little work to do that they collected salaries — and even bonuses — while they surfed the Internet, did laundry, exercised and watched television, an investigation has found.
The employees, paralegals making $60,000 to $80,000 a year, were idle with full knowledge of their immediate bosses and multiple layers of managers and judges who “sat on their hands” waiting for work to give them, a year-long probe by the Commerce Department inspector general’s office uncovered.
The underworked paralegals did little as a backlog of appeals of patent examinations that many of them were hired to help process doubled from about 12,500 in fiscal 2009 to 25,300 last year. Soon after the appeals board brought on additional legal support staff to address a deluge of challenges to decisions by patent examiners, the Patent and Trademark Office imposed a hiring freeze that halted hires of judges needed to handle the appeals.
But they took home more than $4.3 million in pay and about $700,000 in annual performance bonuses of up to $3,500 apiece for “outstanding” work from 2009 through 2013, the report released Tuesday found.
The employees also worked from home. The Patent and Trademark Office set an early example for other federal agencies years ago when it encouraged employees to telework. But the inspector general found that for paralegals in the appeals office, working from home was a green light to abuse the privilege by doing laundry, washing dishes, reading books and a host of other personal activities.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Nice work if you can get it.
Like the ObamaCare navigators who have a quota of 2 applications per MONTH!
Nice unwork if you can get it.
You have no idea. This is happening in more places than you can imagine. Those of us who actually WANT to work are being overshadowed by the masses of people who do just enough to look busy. It’s infuriating.
"You got ALL those grass-stains out..! OUTSTANDING..!!!"
“Dozens of federal employees at an obscure agency that handles appeals of patent applications went years with so little work to do that they collected salaries — and even bonuses — while they surfed the Internet, did laundry, exercised and watched television, an investigation has found.”
Wow, that harkens back to Moochelle Obama’s no-show job at the hospital after Barry was elected to the U.S. Senate, except she was making a cool $300,000.
What a country.
it’s good to have a guaranteed job with a guaranteed budget and guaranteed built in bonuses
for the rest of us, we’re forced to give 61% of our week to the fedgov. 65% of which is sent directly to other people... who are not in my area and are not related to me.
Just another excellent example as to why it’s impossible to cut anything from federal budget. Already cut to the bone.yeah right.
Nice paycheck, too.....................twice mine.................
So this went on between 2009 and the current year. This is the same period during which the Obama Administration, Dems and MSM screamed hysterically that the Republican efforts to cut the budget by a pathetically small amount would cut off Social Security checks for the elderly and gut our national defense, as well as shut down all national parks and monuments. While the Park Service was refusing to let veterans visit the World War II memorial, these paralegals were sitting around, making $90,000 per year to surf the internet. Is it any wonder why this country is in as big of a fiscal mess as it is???
You either have to have the right familial (or political) connections or you must be one of "the most vulnerable among us".
I’m not surprised at all, the Civil Service managers can only get bumped up in grade when they have more people to ‘manage’. I’ve heard it called ‘Empire Building’ before, it’s just another screwy way that rules and regulations can and are manipulated for personal gain.
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