Feds: Bogus WFH RAs

[Anonymous]

Fed managers, if you have employees on bogus WFH RAs, are you approving them L-T? I approved one short term. The doctor said the employee can come into the office at least once a week, but needs accomodations that are faily significant and hard to control. I approved it. Employee has a public social media account (Instagram, Ticktock) where they are doing a lot of things they supposedly cannot do: going to crowded concerts out of state, flying on a plane, taking a subway in NYC, participating in large, crowded activities, driving a car. Team members keep bringing it to my attention and I told I could not discuss other employees with them. However, it seems they are playing the system. I understand some disabilities are invisible, but appears employee got a doctor to right her a note to work from home. Employee also encouraged other employees to get doctor's notes, which they did not do and reported to me. Again, I do not say anything. We are required to be in the office T-Thursday and can telework on Mondays and Fridays. Our office is on several metro lines. Employee's commute is 20 minutes or less driving or 30 minutes on public transport.

[Anonymous]

Contact HR. Why are you telling us?

[Anonymous]

HR really has no advice. They said the person has an RA and that's that. I showed them the evidence and said it is creating a morale issue with the other employees. I really thought the employee had an invisible disability, but their social media shows them doing all the things their RA says they cannot do and therefore cannot attend meetings in the office. They are a decent employee. Smart but knows how to game the system. Has a beef with everyone. Respectful but entitled, if that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Reach out to your RA office and ask them what you need to do to revoke the RA you previously approved.

[Anonymous]

This schedule - just T-Th is a sweet deal. People just don't know how good they have it.

[Anonymous]

Why are you snooping on your employees social media accounts? Get a life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you snooping on your employees social media accounts? Get a life.

Exactly, weirdo. That means you googled the person and are looking for dirt. WEIRDO. Does your spouse know you're a creep???

[Anonymous]

It literally says team members brought the social media stuff to OP’s attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fed managers, if you have employees on bogus WFH RAs, are you approving them L-T? I approved one short term. The doctor said the employee can come into the office at least once a week, but needs accomodations that are faily significant and hard to control. I approved it. Employee has a public social media account (Instagram, Ticktock) where they are doing a lot of things they supposedly cannot do: going to crowded concerts out of state, flying on a plane, taking a subway in NYC, participating in large, crowded activities, driving a car. Team members keep bringing it to my attention and I told I could not discuss other employees with them. However, it seems they are playing the system. I understand some disabilities are invisible, but appears employee got a doctor to right her a note to work from home. Employee also encouraged other employees to get doctor's notes, which they did not do and reported to me. Again, I do not say anything. We are required to be in the office T-Thursday and can telework on Mondays and Fridays. Our office is on several metro lines. Employee's commute is 20 minutes or less driving or 30 minutes on public transport.

https://www.flra.gov/OIG-FILE_A_COMPLAINT

I would call them on Government Ethics Violations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you snooping on your employees social media accounts? Get a life.

Exactly, weirdo. That means you googled the person and are looking for dirt. WEIRDO. Does your spouse know you're a creep???

This is a really standard thing for people in employment law to do. If you sue your employer because you're being denied RA, you better believe your employer's lawyers will be going through your social media accounts.

[Anonymous]

I was in this exact situation. Not only did she game the system she also got others to do it - and was very very successful.

This individual also claimed she could not do the commute to the office due to her "condition" but had no problem going on cruise vacations, swimming with stingrays, babysitting grandchildren, tent camping with family and most importantly, running an on-line business out of her home during work hours.

What eventually happened is she proved to be such a role model that two other employees got notes from their respective "Dr. Quacks" saying they had some sort of condition and needed to work from home full time. No details on condition or what was needed to accommodate them - just that they "needed to work from home full-time as a reasonable accommodation."

Then, following the instigator's guidance, they all were unavailable by phone, all had repeated and regular "connectivity problems" so couldn't answer e-mail nor submit work projects (despite Help Desk finding no reason for these repeated problems) AND literally went silent for several days per week. Three of them.

This went on for more than two years. Guess who wound up doing the work of three GS-13s? Yes, all the rest of the team.

One of them was a gentleman farmer who spent his days out in his barn and fields working with his animals. Yet he did not answer the phone when we called, did not respond to emails nor did he submit projects. And was pissed as hell when we finally got him on the phone one day, telling us we interrupted him tending to one of his animals.

Another had a husband who had his own medical practice and she spent her days doing his books, making appointments for him, and had the gall to tell others in the office she was doing it.

After repeatedly dealing with the incompetent HR director who claimed that anyone with a RA was completely "hands off" (and was also friends with the instigator) the three of them were encouraged to file EEO complaints against me because I insisted there had to be a way to get these three GS-13s to actually perform their duties. That was considered discriminatory and harassment.

Guess who was shoved into early retirement? And guess who went on "teleworking" for the next couple of years?

I wonder what the statute of limitations is for these kinds of crimes, as it constitutes defrauding the government of hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages. American taxpayers should recoup every dime of their salaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in this exact situation. Not only did she game the system she also got others to do it - and was very very successful.

This individual also claimed she could not do the commute to the office due to her "condition" but had no problem going on cruise vacations, swimming with stingrays, babysitting grandchildren, tent camping with family and most importantly, running an on-line business out of her home during work hours.

What eventually happened is she proved to be such a role model that two other employees got notes from their respective "Dr. Quacks" saying they had some sort of condition and needed to work from home full time. No details on condition or what was needed to accommodate them - just that they "needed to work from home full-time as a reasonable accommodation."

Then, following the instigator's guidance, they all were unavailable by phone, all had repeated and regular "connectivity problems" so couldn't answer e-mail nor submit work projects (despite Help Desk finding no reason for these repeated problems) AND literally went silent for several days per week. Three of them.

This went on for more than two years. Guess who wound up doing the work of three GS-13s? Yes, all the rest of the team.

One of them was a gentleman farmer who spent his days out in his barn and fields working with his animals. Yet he did not answer the phone when we called, did not respond to emails nor did he submit projects. And was pissed as hell when we finally got him on the phone one day, telling us we interrupted him tending to one of his animals.

Another had a husband who had his own medical practice and she spent her days doing his books, making appointments for him, and had the gall to tell others in the office she was doing it.

After repeatedly dealing with the incompetent HR director who claimed that anyone with a RA was completely "hands off" (and was also friends with the instigator) the three of them were encouraged to file EEO complaints against me because I insisted there had to be a way to get these three GS-13s to actually perform their duties. That was considered discriminatory and harassment.

Guess who was shoved into early retirement? And guess who went on "teleworking" for the next couple of years?

I wonder what the statute of limitations is for these kinds of crimes, as it constitutes defrauding the government of hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages. American taxpayers should recoup every dime of their salaries.

It sounds like you went after disabled people without evidence and failed your EEO interview spectacularly. Not something I would brag about online or use as an example of RA abuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in this exact situation. Not only did she game the system she also got others to do it - and was very very successful.

This individual also claimed she could not do the commute to the office due to her "condition" but had no problem going on cruise vacations, swimming with stingrays, babysitting grandchildren, tent camping with family and most importantly, running an on-line business out of her home during work hours.

What eventually happened is she proved to be such a role model that two other employees got notes from their respective "Dr. Quacks" saying they had some sort of condition and needed to work from home full time. No details on condition or what was needed to accommodate them - just that they "needed to work from home full-time as a reasonable accommodation."

Then, following the instigator's guidance, they all were unavailable by phone, all had repeated and regular "connectivity problems" so couldn't answer e-mail nor submit work projects (despite Help Desk finding no reason for these repeated problems) AND literally went silent for several days per week. Three of them.

This went on for more than two years. Guess who wound up doing the work of three GS-13s? Yes, all the rest of the team.

One of them was a gentleman farmer who spent his days out in his barn and fields working with his animals. Yet he did not answer the phone when we called, did not respond to emails nor did he submit projects. And was pissed as hell when we finally got him on the phone one day, telling us we interrupted him tending to one of his animals.

Another had a husband who had his own medical practice and she spent her days doing his books, making appointments for him, and had the gall to tell others in the office she was doing it.

After repeatedly dealing with the incompetent HR director who claimed that anyone with a RA was completely "hands off" (and was also friends with the instigator) the three of them were encouraged to file EEO complaints against me because I insisted there had to be a way to get these three GS-13s to actually perform their duties. That was considered discriminatory and harassment.

Guess who was shoved into early retirement? And guess who went on "teleworking" for the next couple of years?

I wonder what the statute of limitations is for these kinds of crimes, as it constitutes defrauding the government of hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages. American taxpayers should recoup every dime of their salaries.

It sounds like you went after disabled people without evidence and failed your EEO interview spectacularly. Not something I would brag about online or use as an example of RA abuse.

The fact that these federal employees were able to do heavy manual labor, work for a spouse's business, and develop their own business during the work day but NOT do their official duties is OK by you, huh?

I guess if you think getting paid by the American people to the tune of $90+ per year, and swearing an oath to be ethical and honest is irrelevant, then we can agree to disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in this exact situation. Not only did she game the system she also got others to do it - and was very very successful.

This individual also claimed she could not do the commute to the office due to her "condition" but had no problem going on cruise vacations, swimming with stingrays, babysitting grandchildren, tent camping with family and most importantly, running an on-line business out of her home during work hours.

What eventually happened is she proved to be such a role model that two other employees got notes from their respective "Dr. Quacks" saying they had some sort of condition and needed to work from home full time. No details on condition or what was needed to accommodate them - just that they "needed to work from home full-time as a reasonable accommodation."

Then, following the instigator's guidance, they all were unavailable by phone, all had repeated and regular "connectivity problems" so couldn't answer e-mail nor submit work projects (despite Help Desk finding no reason for these repeated problems) AND literally went silent for several days per week. Three of them.

This went on for more than two years. Guess who wound up doing the work of three GS-13s? Yes, all the rest of the team.

One of them was a gentleman farmer who spent his days out in his barn and fields working with his animals. Yet he did not answer the phone when we called, did not respond to emails nor did he submit projects. And was pissed as hell when we finally got him on the phone one day, telling us we interrupted him tending to one of his animals.

Another had a husband who had his own medical practice and she spent her days doing his books, making appointments for him, and had the gall to tell others in the office she was doing it.

After repeatedly dealing with the incompetent HR director who claimed that anyone with a RA was completely "hands off" (and was also friends with the instigator) the three of them were encouraged to file EEO complaints against me because I insisted there had to be a way to get these three GS-13s to actually perform their duties. That was considered discriminatory and harassment.

Guess who was shoved into early retirement? And guess who went on "teleworking" for the next couple of years?

I wonder what the statute of limitations is for these kinds of crimes, as it constitutes defrauding the government of hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages. American taxpayers should recoup every dime of their salaries.

I'm confused -- if these people were not getting their work done, why did you not put them on a performance improvement plan? Everyone likes to claim it's impossible to fire people in government, but it's not; it just requires following a process. Don't make it about whether their RA request is legitimate; make it about not getting the work done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you snooping on your employees social media accounts? Get a life.

Exactly, weirdo. That means you googled the person and are looking for dirt. WEIRDO. Does your spouse know you're a creep???

This is a really standard thing for people in employment law to do. If you sue your employer because you're being denied RA, you better believe your employer's lawyers will be going through your social media accounts.

And it’s smart to screen shot them immediately. They could delete these at any time.