[Spain] Man who failed to go to work for 6 years caught out by award nom

In Spain, a man who had been successfully skipping work for six years while remaining on the payroll was caught out after being nominated for a long-service award, indy100 reports.

Joaquín García (69) worked as a building supervisor for a water treatment plant in Cádiz and remained a local government employee for two decades.

One day he simply stopped showing up to work yet he reportedly continued to receive his €37,000 annual salary (before tax) and managed to maintain this situation for years.

The bureaucratic structure of local government led to a miscommunication between two departments. Each department assumed that the other was overseeing Mr Garcia's work.

Only when Mr Garcia was nominated for an award for his 20 years of service to the company did his long time away come to light.

Speaking to Spanish newspaper El Mundo and reported via The Local, Jorge Blas - deputy mayor - said, "I wondered whether he was still working there, had he retired, had he died? But the payroll showed he was still receiving a salary.

“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.”

According to BBC reporting, Mr Garcia was subsequently required to pay a €27,000 fine (equivalent to one year's salary after tax) for his long work absence.

Mr Garcia denied the allegations, even writing to the mayor to ask if he had to pay the fine. He reportedly claimed that he had been bullied due to his family's politics and that there was no work to do at the water company where he alleges, he was sent to be out of the way.

Source: indy100

(Claims via original reporting)

In Spain, a man who had been successfully skipping work for six years while remaining on the payroll was caught out after being nominated for a long-service award, indy100 reports.

Joaquín García (69) worked as a building supervisor for a water treatment plant in Cádiz and remained a local government employee for two decades.

One day he simply stopped showing up to work yet he reportedly continued to receive his €37,000 annual salary (before tax) and managed to maintain this situation for years.

The bureaucratic structure of local government led to a miscommunication between two departments. Each department assumed that the other was overseeing Mr Garcia's work.

Only when Mr Garcia was nominated for an award for his 20 years of service to the company did his long time away come to light.

Speaking to Spanish newspaper El Mundo and reported via The Local, Jorge Blas - deputy mayor - said, "I wondered whether he was still working there, had he retired, had he died? But the payroll showed he was still receiving a salary.

“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.”

According to BBC reporting, Mr Garcia was subsequently required to pay a €27,000 fine (equivalent to one year's salary after tax) for his long work absence.

Mr Garcia denied the allegations, even writing to the mayor to ask if he had to pay the fine. He reportedly claimed that he had been bullied due to his family's politics and that there was no work to do at the water company where he alleges, he was sent to be out of the way.

Source: indy100

(Claims via original reporting)