A report released by the Functional Government Initiative showed a significant drop in federal employees using annual and sick leave in several finance and trade agencies since 2018, raising questions about teleworking abuse.
This means that, for several years, paid leave has been accruing in key agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Export-Import Bank of the United States, according to the report.
“There must be careful review of the FTC and SEC leave usage to ensure their employees are following the time-and-attendance requirements as they prepare new major regulations that would have serious impacts on energy, the financial sector, the supply chain and more,” FGI’s Communications Director Pete McGinnis told Commerce Newswire. “SEC and the FTC have been tasked with aggressive agendas under the Biden administration.”
In the report, titled “Is Teleworking Enabling Fraud?,” the FGI expressed concern, concluding oversight and further analysis would be necessary to determine the cause of the dramatic reductions.
The FGI utilized the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the aggregate leave totals for calendar years 2018-21 for 24 federal agencies, according to the report. The largest drop-off in sick leave and annual leave utilized was 2019-20, during the heart of COVID-19. FGI’s report said these federal employees may be taking advantage of the teleworking system as 2021’s sick and annual leave numbers are significantly lower than 2018’s.
In 2018, the FTC’s employees aggregated a total of 77,337 hours of sick leave, the FTC reported. From 2018 to 2020, sick leave hours taken dropped to 44,642, a 32.98% difference from 2019. In 2021, the FTC reported 45,005 hours of sick leave taken.
The SEC data collected by the FGI revealed that in 2018, the SEC reported 309,848.25 hours of sick leave utilized. From 2018 to 2019, the agency saw a decrease of 14.11%, then a decrease of 33.81% from 2019-20. In 2021 the FTC reported 189,915.25 hours utilized, up 7.81% from 2020.
EX-IM Bank and FHFA all followed this trend of a significant drop in the use of sick leave with little to no increase by 2021, as shown in data FGI compiled. EX-IM Bank employees utilized 32,172.50 hours in 2018 and 13,926.75 hours in 2021, a 57% decline. FHFA employees took 36,583.75 hours in 2018 and 21,817.75 hours in 2021, a 40% decline.
“Given what we know surrounding the federal government’s oversight on telework and how employees have appeared to abuse this in the past, these numbers suggest this particular COVID-driven policy may be having significant negative implications for waste, fraud and abuse,” McGinnis recently told the Department of Labor Newswire.
The Washington Free Beacon reported in August that four federal agencies said they had no specific oversight of remote employees: U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
FGI said on its website that it is a new organization dedicated to improving the American public’s awareness about the officials, decisions and priorities of their government.
