Employee time theft, payroll fraud subject of Florida county investigation
Southwest Florida's Lee County recently began looking into alleged employee time theft and payroll fraud within its Department of Transportation, WBBH-TV reports.
Auditors are set to interview at least 150 employees over the course of the investigation, which is expected to conclude in the later part of next month.
According to Lee County Manager Karen Hawes, the discrepancies in employee attendance records were uncovered after workers complained of intimidation, resulting in a county investigation.
She told the news source that there had been indications of workers misusing the department's timeclock to check in and out of work on behalf of their colleagues.
The probe also revealed that vehicles belonging to the department have likely been misused for unauthorized, personal business.
WBBH-TV launched its own investigation into DOT records and found that while work permits for driveway inspections and cable installations decreased by more than one-quarter over the time period looked into, the number of miles put on the county's vehicles increased.
Time theft occurs when employees misrepresent their hours in order to be paid for periods of productivity that they did not actually engage in.
Auditors are set to interview at least 150 employees over the course of the investigation, which is expected to conclude in the later part of next month.
According to Lee County Manager Karen Hawes, the discrepancies in employee attendance records were uncovered after workers complained of intimidation, resulting in a county investigation.
She told the news source that there had been indications of workers misusing the department's timeclock to check in and out of work on behalf of their colleagues.
The probe also revealed that vehicles belonging to the department have likely been misused for unauthorized, personal business.
WBBH-TV launched its own investigation into DOT records and found that while work permits for driveway inspections and cable installations decreased by more than one-quarter over the time period looked into, the number of miles put on the county's vehicles increased.
Time theft occurs when employees misrepresent their hours in order to be paid for periods of productivity that they did not actually engage in.
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