Chalk up another infamous story about stimulus spending, this one
about a few pieces of paper that could have saved taxpayers a whole
bunch of money.
The Energy Department's Savannah River facility in South Carolina paid out a whopping $7.7 million in severance packages to 526 contract workers who had been hired temporarily under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act when all that was needed was 60-day layoff notices.
An internal investigation by the Energy Department's inspector general concluded there was no reason to spend the money on golden parachutes -- which averaged about $14,600 per worker. The department knew for months the stimulus-funded jobs were coming to an end and had plenty of time to prepare the legally required layoff warnings.
Instead, the facility's managers wrote out the big checks and then offered a litany of excuses, none of which the inspector general found compelling. And the watchdog worries the same mistake could be made again as the government prepares for another round of budget-cutting next year forced by the 2011 debt deal between Congress and President Barack Obama.
"While we are sensitive to the impact that the transition has on employees, the need to ensure that taxpayer provided funds are spent prudently is especially important in these trying budgetary and economic times," the inspector general said. "In short, we are concerned that it may not have been reasonable or equitable to provide terminated employees in Savannah River with additional payments."
The Energy Department's Savannah River facility in South Carolina paid out a whopping $7.7 million in severance packages to 526 contract workers who had been hired temporarily under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act when all that was needed was 60-day layoff notices.
An internal investigation by the Energy Department's inspector general concluded there was no reason to spend the money on golden parachutes -- which averaged about $14,600 per worker. The department knew for months the stimulus-funded jobs were coming to an end and had plenty of time to prepare the legally required layoff warnings.
Instead, the facility's managers wrote out the big checks and then offered a litany of excuses, none of which the inspector general found compelling. And the watchdog worries the same mistake could be made again as the government prepares for another round of budget-cutting next year forced by the 2011 debt deal between Congress and President Barack Obama.
"While we are sensitive to the impact that the transition has on employees, the need to ensure that taxpayer provided funds are spent prudently is especially important in these trying budgetary and economic times," the inspector general said. "In short, we are concerned that it may not have been reasonable or equitable to provide terminated employees in Savannah River with additional payments."
For finding a way to waste money even when downsizing from the stimulus, DOE's Savannah River Site wins this week's Golden Hammer, a distinction given out by the Washington Guardian to the worst examples of government waste, fraud or abuse.
No comments:
Post a Comment