IG finds dozens of federal workers watched TV and did laundry on the clock — and got bonuses

Hotair ^ | 08/01/2014 | Ed Morrissey

[SeekAndFind]

For years, a particularly enthusiastic entrepreneur pitched his book that purported to show how Americans could get government cash for free — free except for the cost of his book, anyway. It turns out that getting free cash from Uncle Sam is even easier than he promised. The Commerce Department’s Inspector General did an investigation of the Patent and Trademark Office after receiving whistleblower complaints about waste, and discovered that dozens of employees got paid for years of arduous duty … such as watching TV, surfing the Internet, and doing their laundry.

The best part? Some of them got thousands of dollars in performance bonuses:

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.

[Smedley]

We in the patent industry (at least on the non-USPTO side) have been laughing about this all day.

[Smedley]

especially those of us who think the Board of Appeals is eff’ed up . . . which is most of us

[GeronL]

This is probably NORMAL for the federal government

[Arm_Bears]

Patent and Trademark Office—Isn’t this the bunch of clowns hassling the Redskins?

[molson209]

federal workers are just following their leader Obama

[Fledermaus]

Another waste of taxpayer money. IG’s are worthless because NOTHING will be done.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Federal Government IS THE PROBLEM in this nation. It’s not just this agency, it’s all of them. And, they’re untouchable.

[RightGeek]

I wonder if they are hiring? You would not even need to move to DC.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

In Communism, the workers pretended to work and the government pretended to pay them. In the American Welfare State, the government workers pretended to work and the government actually did pay them.

[Uncle Chip]

But we’re going to purge 550 Majors in the army rather than these useless federal slackers —

[macglencoe]

If they have this much time on their hands, we have too many federal employees.

[Milton Miteybad]

Half the federal civilian workforce could disappear by falling into a gaping hole in the earth, and not one taxpayer-citizen would ever notice that they are gone. Evidence for this assessment? The White House staff under FDR comprised fewer than 120 individuals, and they were able to win WWII while managing the largest military mobilization in history. Obama's White House staff is now approaching 2,000 employees, and they can't keep 15 year old MS-13 members and their machetes from showing up in McAllen.

Granted, there is a significant competence gap (FDR actually had some, Obama is still looking for his), but still...

[Organic Panic]

I would rather have bureaucrats watching TV than making new regulations.

[hal ogen]

So where are those who often that govt “workers” work so hard. Many feds are hobos with a paycheck. RIF them now.