Anonymous wrote:I work in a consulting industry where the billable hours are charged to the clients. Clients are mainly public entities; Local, State and federal governments.
Last week, I came across a couple questionable timesheets entries. While digging more into it, I have found that at least three employees are cheating on billable time. For example, Employee A works on three projects between 7am and 4 pm. The time between the three projects are tracked as Project 1 - 7 am - 11 am ( 4 hrs), Project 2 - 9 am - 1 pm ( 4 hrs), and Project 3 - 12 pm to 4 pm ( 4 hrs), a cumulative total of 12 hrs. This practice is ongoing for as far back as I can track. There are hundreds of entries like this. And, These hours are eventually invoiced to the clients.
This practice seems questionable and unethical. Thoughts on what I should do?
They may be multitasking but they should charge only for one project. Overlapping hours on 2 projects during the same timeslot is TOTALLY questionable. You should bring it up with them and HR.