Whistleblower claims draw attention to the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after a federal employee was accused of apparently avoiding relocation to Florida and still receiving his full salary as if he were in the nation's capital. are.
The whistleblower reportedly relayed the concerns to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who heads the Senate DOGE caucus.
The whistleblower claims that the employee, who works for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), lives in South Florida and has lived there for years, even though HUD's headquarters are in Washington, DC. are.
of daily mail report According to the whistleblower, the person in question is Antonio Callaway, who “still earns a good salary” despite living in the Port St. Lucie, Florida, area.
The person who came forward said the “Florida guy” was allowed to “retire in place” while earning “100 percent tax-funded union time” (TFUT).
In a letter to Acting HUD Secretary Adrian Todman obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, Ernst outlined deceptive and illegal practices and suggested the man had been living there since 2020. I highlighted the receipt showing that there is.
The report also indicates that Caraway has a part-time job in real estate.
“Perhaps he does all of his real estate business outside of his federal paycheck hours. For some reason, I suspect that,” Ernst said in the letter.
In a statement to daily mailsaid Ernst, “Florida.” The man who skips his day job and makes a name for himself as a “real estate expert” is just one of the bureaucrats to whom I emphasize this. Christmas season. “
“It sounds like a comedy headline, but taxpayers are at the center of the joke as federal employees continue to get caught doing everything but their jobs,” she continued, adding, “But Americans get the last laugh. “Next year, I'm going to give bureaucrats a choice: keep their jobs or get fired.”
The news comes as Ernst helps realize Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's vision of reducing government waste with DOGE. One of the aspects Ernst focuses on is the inefficiency and waste associated with remote work. She published some of her research findings in the following paper: report This article, titled “Out of the office: Bureaucrats are on beaches and bubble baths, but not in office buildings,” found this to be a widespread problem.
“Numerous United States Agency for International Development (USAID) employees have also been arrested for fraudulently collecting local payroll while residing elsewhere in Washington, D.C.,” her report found.
One senior USAID employee lived in Florida during his employment, but used an office supply store in Virginia for work-related communications and deceptively collected regional pay in Washington, D.C. . Even though she was required to report twice to the USAID office in Washington, D.C., each pay period, she was allowed to violate the telecommuting agreement by her supervisor.
When questioned by an OIG special agent, the supervisor denied knowing where the employee lived. However, the OIG found evidence that “supervisors knew that the employee lived in Florida and was using a Virginia address to receive a higher local salary.” Criminal charges against the employee and his supervisor were dropped, and the employee resigned.
As a result of these discoveries, Ernst proposed: remote actAccording to his press release, this will “use software to monitor bureaucrats' computer usage, request agency reports, and provide critical information for individual performance evaluations. “Requires agencies to collect specific data on the negative effects of telework in the federal government.”
Ernst said, “The bureaucrats were given some reprieve through 'temporary' telework due to the coronavirus pandemic, but they have taken an extra mile at the expense of taxpayers.'' . said This was said in a statement released on December 11th.
“Holding Washington accountable starts with ensuring that federal employees are not 'working' in bubble baths and golf courses with taxpayer money,” she continued.
“It is past time to transform our government agencies so veterans, seniors, and all Americans have access to quality care and customer service,” she added.
