Hundreds of former Internal Revenue Service employees who had a history of misconduct and poor performance on the job were rehired by the tax agency, including some who had committed fraud or falsified documents.
The previously cited IRS staff included 141 employees who had problems paying their own taxes, the agency’s inspector general said in a report made public Thursday. Several had “willfully failed to file their federal tax returns,” the report said.
The IRS hired more than 7,000 former employees between January 2010 and September 2013. Of the 824 who returned to the agency despite their checkered work history, nearly one-fifth may have already run into new performance or conduct problems by the time of the inspector general’s review, according to a statistical analysis.
Prior problems ranged from minor infractions to major violations. Some had been faulted for committing fraud, accessing taxpayers’ information without authorization, falsifying official documents, and “workplace disruption.” Others were reprimanded for abusing employee leave time during their previous stints at the IRS.
For example, one employee’s file had been marked “do not rehire” because he or she had disappeared from the job for nearly eight weeks without pay. Nonetheless, the IRS rehired that person.
Four employees returned to the same positions “in which prior performance deficiencies had been documented.” Five were rehired despite conduct breaches such as “threats, sexual harassment, unprofessional conduct, off-duty misconduct, and criminal misconduct.”
“During the audit, IRS officials stated that prior conduct and performance issues do not play a significant role in deciding the candidates who are best qualified for hiring,” the watchdog found.
“Rehiring prior employees with known conduct and performance issues presents increased risk to the IRS and taxpayers,” the inspector general continued.
