For six years, a building supervisor in Spain received a $41,500 salary from the government without showing up for work.
He would have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for him getting an award for his 20 years of loyal service!
69 year-old oaquín García has been fined $30,000 for the paid vacation from a water treatment plant in Cádiz – the maximum penalty government officials could deliver, the BBC reported.
According to deputy mayor Jorge Blas, it wasn’t until Garcia was due to be recognized for his hard work in 2010 that authorities realized his office was sitting vacant.
“I wondered whether he was still working there, had he retired, had he died? But the payroll showed he was still receiving a salary,” Blas told Spanish newspaper El Mundo, according to The Local.
“I called him up and asked him, ‘What did you do yesterday? The month before, the month before that?’ He didn’t know what to say.”
Garcia retired after the allegations came to light, though he denies wrongdoing.
In the end, the court sided with the government.
