Audit: FBI agents billed $45k apiece for Iraq OT

[cosmicone]

Source: AP/Yahoo

WASHINGTON – FBI agents on temporary assignment in Iraq billed an average of $45,000 in overtime and extra pay for eating, watching movies and going to cocktail parties in some cases, the Justice Department reported Thursday.

The audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine concluded the FBI improperly used overtime and other premium pay allowances for employees sent to war zones.

Between 2003 and 2007, the FBI spent $63 million in overtime and extra pay for employees in Iraq, the report found. Of that, $7.8 million was improperly billed.

"Several FBI employees noted that they periodically spent time during the work day washing clothes," the report noted. "Questioned whether he should have been paid for the time spent in this activity, one employee defended the practice, saying 'when you're in that environment, anything you do to survive is work for the FBI.'"

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081218/ap_on_go_ot/fbi_overtime

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Our tax dollars at work!

[JudyInTheHeartland]

1. If this keeps them from going to Blackwater

Maybe it's not such a bad thing. Yes, hours should be billed properly, but I'm all for finding creative ways to get people to go to not nice places. Remember that it was the FBI that uncovered torture at Gitmo...

[underpants]

2. working out and cocktail parties

"The FBI inappropriately permitted employees to regularly claim overtime for activities that are not compensable as work, such as time spent eating meals, exercising more than 3 hours per week, and socializing," the report said. The socializing included going to movies and cocktail parties.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/18/fbi.iraq.overtime/index.html

[douglas9]

3. FBI Managers Encouraged Workers in Iraq to Bill for Time Off

For nearly five years, FBI leaders encouraged employees on temporary assignment in Iraq to bill an average of $45,000 in overtime and extra pay by routinely claiming to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week, even when some of that time was spent eating, exercising, watching movies or attending cocktail parties, the Justice Department inspector general reported yesterday.

FBI counterterrorism division managers condoned a time-billing practice under which 1,150 employees between 2003 and 2007 earned about $71,000 during a typical 90-day tour -- nearly triple the typical worker's salary, Inspector General Glenn Fine reported.

The practice violated federal law and regulations and accounted for at least $7.8 million to the $99 million taxpayer cost of the FBI efforts.

The FBI changed the overtime policy in 2008 while the investigation was underway. Using lower claims submitted by workers this year as a guide, the inspector general conservatively estimated that between 2003 and 2007, the typical employee earned about $5,594 per tour in unwarranted payments.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/18/AR2008121803540_pf.html

[truthisfreedom]

4. Silly. Obviously released on Thursday night to distract from bad Friday news. Wait for it..

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Waaaiiittt......................

[saigon68]

5. Nice post