So I’m reading my daily updates from the IRS (hey, stop judging me, I do it so YOU don’t have to) and I come across one that sends chills down my back. My first three thoughts are:
1) This is terrifying
2) This is Terrifying and
3) THIS IS TERRIFYING!!
What is it, you ask – The IRS is hiring back, not just a few, but hundreds of former employees that were let go for cause – the causes ranging from (and I’m going to quote here)
…prior substantiated conduct or performance issues. For example, 141 former employees with substantiated tax issues, including five who the IRS found had willfully failed to file their Federal tax returns were rehired.
not Terrifying enough for you? Imagine if one of these people caught wind that YOU willfully failed to file YOUR tax return.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration’s (TIGTA) report goes on to say:
Other substantiated issues from previous IRS employment included unauthorized access to taxpayer information, leave abuse, falsification of official forms, unacceptable performance, misuse of IRS property, and off-duty misconduct.
Is THAT terrifying enough for you? Re-read that last paragraph. If you were fired from your last job for any of the things these folks were fired for (remember these were all SUBSTANTIATED issues, not just a supervisor making something up to fire someone) would you even TRY to get re-hired? I wouldn’t. I suspect you wouldn’t either.
The report doesn’t stop there, but continues, saying:
…rehiring prior employees with known conduct and performance issues presents increased risk to the IRS and taxpayers. For example, TIGTA found that nearly 20% of the hired former employees sampled with prior substantiated or unresolved conduct or performance issues had new conduct or performance issues (e.g., tax noncompliance or unauthorized access to tax account information).
Just how ‘cool’ is THAT bit of information? Oh, so now you agree with me that it isn’t cool, it is TERRIFYING!!! These malcontents have access to your personal information AND have a beef with their employer. What a great set-up. If you were watching a show on television or in a movie theater with this as a premise you’d shut it off or leave because it is too unbelievable to even be possible.
So, why did the IRS re-hire these people? Well, when asked that very question, they responded:
…prior conduct and performance issues do not play a significant role in deciding the candidates who are best qualified for hiring and that they believe they are applying OPM suitability standards appropriately.
(OPM is Office of Personnel Management for those of us who aren’t completely fluent in acronyms.) But seriously, the SAME people who were snooping where they shouldn’t have been, and were caught and fired for doing so, have not only been re-hired, but have been caught doing the SAME snooping again!! The same folks who were caught not filing their tax returns on purpose before are back to not filing their returns AGAIN. And THESE are the folks who are now in charge of fining people and putting liens on their bank accounts and homes!
All I can say is:
TERRIFYING
TERRIFYING
TERRIFYING