DEQ Employees Accused Of Payroll Padding

Two Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees assigned to monitor bioterrorism threats have been fired, and three others disciplined, for falsifying payroll records and using state-owned vehicles for personal activities.

The abuses were revealed in a 2017-18 investigation by the Fraud Investigative Services Team in the Office of the Auditor General, and the discipline was reported by DEQ Director Amy Epkey in response to their findings.

None of the employees, who worked in a Detroit-based Department of Homeland Security program charged with monitoring and responding to airborne bioterrorism agents, is identified in the auditor general’s report.

But the offenses cited include:

● One DEQ employee overstated the number of hours worked on timecards on each of 18 days monitored and received an estimated $16,122 for work not performed over a nine-month period.

● Another employee falsified work time reports on 10 of 12 days monitored. He also made multiple personal stops after leaving his Detroit office and returned home without completing an 8-hour work day seven times, including one in which he overstated on-the-job activities by 4 hours and 20 minutes.

● Three of four employees monitored allegedly violated state rules by using state-owned vehicles on personal errands or when off-duty. Using vehicle GPS tracking records, the investigators determined that one employee twice used his assigned vehicle on non-work days.

● One employee, who lived in St. Clair County, was paid from the time he climbed into his state vehicle for a daily commute (a 127-mile round trip) despite having job responsibilities that often required no duties outside of the Detroit office.

The report estimated that four employees collected at least $33,873 in over payments between January 2017 and June 2018 by making personal stops while on duty, taking extended lunch breaks and leaving work early.

One of the employees explained to investigators that his time card discrepancies were the result of the use of a flexible schedule, approved by his supervisor, and that it “all evens out in the long run.” That contention was at least partially confirmed by the supervisor, who said he trusted his employees to work required hours, the report said.

But the findings of the investigation belied the notion that the extra hours claimed evened-out over the long run, the report said. And it described the supervisor’s trust as both misplaced and in violation of state employment regulations.

It was unclear from the report whether that supervisor was one of the employees subsequently disciplined.

The investigation was launched after the auditor general’s office received a complaint to its Fraud, Waste and Abuse Hotline, alleging that longtime employees in the bioterrorism unit regularly took extended lunch hours and left work early. The complaint also alleged that a unit supervisor had been notified but failed to take action.

Editor's note: The headline was changed after publication.