CBS This Morning on Monday exposed the difficulty of firing derelict government employees, even ones who watch porn while on the job. Journalist Don Dahler also highlighted the bullying, harassing individual who threatened coworkers, but hasn't been terminated. Dahler began by observing, "In the private sector, if you're caught viewing porn on company time or intimidating a co-worker, you'd probably be fired immediately."
The reporter noted this isn't the case with the federal government. He continued, "At the Environmental Protection Agency, red tape is preventing the removal of a top-level employee accused of viewing porn two to six hour as day while at work since 2010." Dahler marveled, "Even though investigators found 7,000 pornographic files on his computer and even caught him watching porn, he remains on the payroll."
This wasn't an isolated example. The journalist reminded:
DAHLER: Firing belligerent or hostile mangers is difficult too. One manager told us he tried for more than a year to fire an employee who was intimidating coworkers and superiors. At one point, even chasing a manager down the hall. Upset about being reprimanded, the employee sent him numerous menacing e-mails, including this one: "I can stand over you to. I am 6 foot three and I weight 265 and I'm not backing down. And by the way, I do know where you live."
CBS has a history of highlighting government waste, unlike ABC and NBC. In February of 2014, the network noted the "seriously flawed," "massive" spending in the farm bill.
On August 6, 2014, only CBS noted that the government had lost $619 million.
A transcript of the March 2 segment is below:
7:42
CHARLIE ROSE: A CBS news investigation looks at how hard it is for the government to discipline or fire employees who behave badly. Examples range from extravagant to explicit. Don Dahler shows us how civil service rules meant to protect public workers from political pressure may be backfiring and costing you big. Don, good morning.
DON DAHLER: Good morning. In the private sector, if you're caught viewing porn on company time or intimidating a co-worker, you'd probably be fired immediately. Not so if you're a federal employee. At the Environmental Protection Agency, red tape is preventing the removal of a top-level employee accused of viewing porn two to six hour as day while at work since 2010. Even though investigators found 7,000 pornographic files on his computer and even caught him watching porn, he remains on the payroll.
REP. JASON CHAFFETZ: This person is on administrative leave with pay. Why didn't you fire this person?
GINA MCCARTHY (EPA Administrator) I actually have to work through the administrative process as you know.
DAHLER: That administrative process is the Civil Service Protection System, rules to protect against politically motivated firings. They give employees the right to appeal a termination, a process that could take up to two years.
MAX STIER (Partnership for Public Service president): There is a big difference between trying to protect against that and what we have today.
DAHLER: Max Stier, head of the non-profit Partnership for Public Service, says those rules make it nearly impossible to fire poor performers or problematic employees, even when they've committed egregious violations.
STIER: Many managers would like to get rid of problem employees and find that they have to go through a challenging process.
DAHLER: A CBS News analysis of cases under review by the Merit Systems Protection Board, or MSPB, an appeals board for public workers, found other instances of employees who had committed seemingly firable offenses but were later reinstated to their jobs, often with back pay and interest
[Government employees peforming on stage.]
DAHLER: Highly publicized cases like this outing in Las Vegas are no exception. Three years ago, the General Services Administration spent more than $800,000 on the lavish Vegas conference. 1,000 sushi rolls costing $7 a piece were served and a clown and a mind reader were hired for entertainment. Two managers were initially fired but got their jobs back after the MSPB reversed the decision.
CHAFFETZ: What does it take to be actually fired from the GSA?
MIKE ROBERTSON (GSA Chief of staff) : There's a long-standing due process they're entitled to as part of their employment. We've begun that process, among several other disciplinary actions for several individuals that were involved in planning and execution of this conference.
DAHLER: The appeals board found that "while the conference's level of extravagance has no place in government, the GSA did not convincingly approve that the two managers knew or had reason to know of these ill-advised planing and purchasing decisions." The GSA was ordered to cancel the appellants's removal and give them back pay plus interest. Meanwhile, the organizer of the convention was allowed to retire. Firing belligerent or hostile mangers is difficult too. One manager told us he tried for more than a year to fire an employee who was intimidating coworkers and superiors. At one point, even chasing a manager down the hall. Upset about being reprimanded, the employee sent him numerous e-mails, including this one: "I can stand over you to. I am 6 foot three and I weight 265 and I'm not backing down. And by the way, I do know where you live." If you consider administrative leave and the general cost of the procedure itself, how much is this costing taxpayers?
STIER: No question they're losing, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars, in a conservative estimate. They're losing more than that though because they're losing the ability to get the very best out of government.
DAHLER: Congressman Jason Chaffetz hopes to change that.
CHAFFETZ: We're going to pass a series of pieces of legislation that deals with some of these specific things like pornography. At some point common decency and the recognition that if you're not doing your job and you're creating a hostile work environment, you've got to go.
DAHLER: On average about 6,000 terminations are appeal each year. About half of those are related to misconduct and poor performance.
KING: One of those things, Don, that makes no sense.
DAHLER: It doesn't.
KING: I heard everything you said and I'm still going huh?
DAHLER: Yeah. It was set up initially to protect employees when there's a new administration that comes in so you can't have vengeance firings, but it's really become abused
KING: Yeah. it's gone all the way to the other side.
