Ready to work, but nothing to do all day

John Kasprowicz went to his job as a geologist at Argonne National Laboratory every day for nearly two years and did nothing. When he asked his bosses at the U.S. Department of Energy for something to do to justify his $95,000-plus paycheck, they told him something would come along. But for 22 months, nothing did--that is, he says, until he sent copies of his time sheets showing he was doing nothing all day to the DOE inspector general's office in Washington, D.C.

When the inspectors started making inquiries, Kasprowicz, 46, was transferred to a different department, where he was given work. Some of his colleagues weren't so lucky. Kasprowicz says one physicist at Argonne has done nothing for the last four years except sit in an office without a computer--and hasn't talked to his supervisor in six months.

Other scientists say they couldn't take it doing nothing and quit or retired. Their problem, according to a federal lawsuit filed by Kasprowicz and six others, was that they were white men, and that supervisors, eager to promote minorities, froze them out in an effort to make them go away. The suit claims that 26 of 29 promotions at the Department of Energy's Argonne office went to women or minorities during a four-year period ending in 1993. It also claims that managers' pay was structured to encourage that pattern of promotion. Managers who exceeded their "diversity goals" got $10,000 to $20,000 annual bonuses on top of their $120,000 salaries, Kasprowicz said.

"I think they started out with good intentions, trying to redress an imbalance, but now if you're a white male, your chances of promotion are virtually nil," Kasprowicz said. "Two wrongs don't make a right." The plaintiffs in the suit are among about 400 Energy Department workers at Argonne who supervise and monitor nuclear research performed by nearly 4,000 others, mostly employees of the University of Chicago. The university runs the lab under a contract with the government.

Kasprowicz and other DOE workers said they began to sense they were being discriminated against in the early 1990s.

After six years administering research on the disposal of high-level nuclear waste in Nevada, Kasprowicz said, he was told by a boss that it was unlikely he'd be promoted because he did not meet diversity goals. This was despite outstanding performance ratings Kasprowicz had posted every year. At the same time, the lawsuit claims, women and minorities with less experience were being promoted. In 1995, Kasprowicz and about 44 other employees, mostly white men, were transferred to a newly formed division at Argonne, which he said turned out to be a bureaucratic limbo in which more than half of them weren't given any significant new work.

"They stick you in a place where you're going to waste away, and sooner or later you leave," Kasprowicz said. "This was the process they used to eliminate us." Frederick Wysk, a civil engineer with 35 years of experience, was transferred to the new division at the same time. Previously he had administered DOE construction projects around the country. Now he sat in a cubicle with little to do.

"The reverse discrimination was pretty obvious. It was a bullpen, a holding department for people to do nothing," Wysk said. "I'd spend maybe an hour or two a day in actual productive work. My supervisor, Justin Zamirowski, would come around and say 'When are you going to retire, old fellow?' or, 'What are you still doing around here?' "

Wysk, who is not a plaintiff in the suit against Argonne, said he accepted a buyout and now works as a consultant in private industry. Zamirowski declined comment, but DOE spokesman Brian Quirke said Wysk's complaints have been investigated, and the department has found no evidence of discrimination.

Quirke also emphasized that the new division was formed not to shunt aside unwanted employees, but so that a pool of experts would be on call to assist other departments. "Was it a dumping ground? Absolutely not," he said. "Was it punishment for the employees? Absolutely not. Were there times when people were not doing work? Yes. This business is cyclical, and sometimes their customers needed a lot of help, and other times they needed less."

still another highly paid employee--a physicist who asked that his name not be used--said the lack of work in the new division got to be too much. He says he quit recently after six months of staring at the walls. "I wasn't going to sit out here with nothing to do and be threatened and verbally abused and watch my career stultify any longer," said the physicist, who is not a party to the suit. "At any given time, there were probably eight to 10 people out there, senior expert-level scientists or engineers, who effectively had no work. It was gross waste on the part of management, and it continues."

Kasprowicz still had enough work from old assignments to keep him busy, even after being transferred into the new department. But over the next few years, the work tapered off. By 1998, he was working only about four hours a day, and from March 1999 through 2000, he documented himself doing nothing eight hours a day. On a typical day, he said, he would come in, answer his e-mail and voice mail, and study professional journals and DOE documents.

"The problem is, you can't put that on a resume," said Kasprowicz, who has applied for more than 75 other jobs within the DOE. "You have to put down programs and projects, otherwise you're not going anywhere." At the same time, according to the suit, the manager of this "dead end" division, Zamirowski, denied these employees training and travel opportunities and up-to-date equipment.

Wysk, an officer of a national engineering society, was told he couldn't take time off to go to a professional meeting, even though the society was picking up the tab. "This was when I was sitting there doing nothing," Wysk said.

"It's a Catch-22," Kasprowicz said. "They say you need training to get promoted, but then they don't give you a chance to get the training." At one point, desperate for work, Kasprowicz said he used his contacts within the Energy Department to land a $165 million project for Argonne, with DOE headquarters naming him as a project administrator. Despite assurances from a supervisor that if he brought in new work, he would be allowed to keep it, he said, the project was transferred to a different division. Meanwhile, Kasprowicz, sick of doing nothing, took a part-time job selling shoes at Marshall Field's in Oak Brook.

"I was just going out of my mind," he said. "I felt I had to do something constructive." The situation decayed further, the lawsuit charges, when Kasprowicz and several colleagues filed complaints with their office's equal opportunity officer. Many of those who filed complaints, according to the suit, were retaliated against by being included in the transfer to the new division, where work was scarce. The suit alleges that managers yelled at workers who complained, urged other workers to ostracize those who complained, and that 35 workers were pressured to sign a petition upholding management's actions. Government attorneys have fought the reverse-discrimination suit over the last five years, filing reams of documents. In court papers, they say the plaintiffs failed to present enough direct evidence of discrimination and that at least one of the minorities promoted had better qualifications. They also deny that any retaliation took place, claiming that "minor changes in the plaintiffs' work do not constitute adverse job action."

And while the government admitted managers circulated the petition, they deny "that any of these actions were acts of retaliation."

Quirke also said that despite claims of reverse discrimination, white men still are the majority of high-level DOE managers. But, he added: "We are proud of the fact that we have been able to recruit, train and promote minorities and women in our organization." The seven employees claiming discrimination are seeking back pay, promotions and $300,000 each in damages. The case might go to a jury trial later this year. Kasprowicz said that at least four people in his former division still spend the day twiddling their thumbs. But since his complaint to the inspector general, Kasprowicz has fared better. For the last 1-1/2 years, he has been assigned to several projects that keep him busy. He said his new boss "is making a very good attempt to give me work that is challenging."

You could make productive use of the time. Do all your bills, write correspondence, catch up on books, you name it. You get home, and your time is gravy other than household chores. That would be the life for me. $8,000 a month to vedge out for 8 hours. I am a white male. Where do I apply? ;)

I am pretty sure that I couldn't do it... I work in the computer field as a network and systems engineer, doing network design, installs and troubleshooting. I rarely do the same thing two days in a row. Once, my company hired me out on a long term contract (14 months, full time). I worked at a large financial institution, in a cubicle. The first two weeks were fun, where I came up with a list of things that they needed to do to fix a number of problems. #1 on the list was replacing their file servers with new hardware! (For the geeks out there, they had a Pentium Pro 200MHz Compaq server, w/ 512MB of RAM and 180GB of storage in a RAID 5 array, serving almost 300 users...) If the server crashed, it would take at least 45 minutes for it to reboot to a usable system! Well, they did finally listen to me, and get a new system, but only after 13 months! It magically stopped crashing, and only took 6 minutes to boot!) Anyway, even though I was given a number of projects to work on, I was bored... Having to do the same thing, over and over again is something that I just wasn't prepared for... I've turned down a number of job offers with better pay and benefits because I love the job that I have...

Oh, and as far as being able to just goof around all day? Well, I needed back surgery, and was told I'd be off of work for 6-8 weeks! After a lot of whining, the Drs said, "maybe 4-6 weeks." I was back at work in 3 1/2 weeks! Three days after my surgery, I was going stir crazy at home! I couldn't work on the computer, because I wasn't allowed to sit or lay on my stomach: I had to lay on my back, flat, or if I was standing, I had to walk... After two weeks I was so bored, I walked to one of my clients and begged them to give me something to do! FOR FREE!!!!

Mark

I am not suggesting not doing anything. This paid job with basically zero stress can leave you with the energy to do volunteer work on the side.

I work my tail off every day in a physically demanding job. When I get home after another 100 degree day here in LA, in bumper to bumper traffic, I am not very productive at home or in the community.

How about writing that great american novel during those 8 hours? Taking correspondence courses over the internet? A ton of worthwhile things you can do for 8 hours in the cubicle if you have no work to do.

Yes, but the issue is these are just a couple of what must be thousands - tens of thousands of gov't jobs like this- being paid for by the slave labor of those in the private sector who ARE workng their rear ends off!!!

Why can't we do a class action lawsuit for incompetence in office of those running this agency - and then moveonto the next. It just irks the dickens out me to read this - and I want it posted in every newspaper in the country and with every private employer or employee in this country.

IF this situation cannot be ended and thousands of unneeded federal workers removed from do nothing jobs...being paid outrageous salaries and bonuses.....we should not stop putting this information in grocery stores, doctor's offices, etc. until the hue and cry rises up and we DEMAND THESE DO NOTHING JOBS BE ENDED!!!

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