Return to Article: Unexcused employee absences on the rise, senator says
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85050
I have worked as a DOD civilian for 23 longgggggggggggggg years but I now have seen the other side of the coin. I was diagnosed with BiPolar in 2004 and PTSD. I know that this government we work for are NOT caring at all. They have been after me since 18 Dec 07--and finally this Friday my two year wait is going to happen. I got a bogus 5 day suspension this week..without pay.....good luck everybody.....
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57392
According to the Washington Post, Coburn was AWOL for 1.2% of the roll-call votes last year. Unfortunately, we don't know how much time is represented here. He's at the low end of this statistic in the Senate, but I don't see him taking on his golf buddies. He's also been an incredible obstructionist - nicknamed Dr. No - holding up important work in the Senate.
But his continued use of raw statistical data to capture headlines and attention at the expense of federal employees, reveals his opportunism and dishonesty. Coburn is a right-wing hack.
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57374
There is a difference between AWOL and LWOP. LWOP is what should be used if you are out of leave...you are absent with permission, but are not being paid. AWOL is absent without permission, and should only happen once or twice before the employee is terminated. I am amazed at the number of employees in my shop with 20-25 years experience and single digit leave balances. No, we have not had any disasters in this area. As soon as they get a day of sick leave on the books, they "don't feel well"...then when they really get sick, they have their hand out wanting leave donations.
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57367
I would feel much more comfortable if these statistics had some context. For example, wouldn't it be nice to know how much the federal workforce has grown since 2001? Wouldn't it be nice to know what percentage of the total number of hours worked those couple of million hours actually represent? How many of those Treasury employees are the lowly paid part timers who support them during tax time? Throwing out numbers like that with no insight or context is exactly how our country is being run--by knee-jerk reaction by people who would much rather focus on something like this than the fact that federal employee raises are based on the Cost of Living minus gas and food prices. Who came up with that formula? Obviously, one of the fine statisticians sitting on some Senator's staff.
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57290
It never ceases to amaze me the number of times I have seen a few folks come to work when they wanted only and still have a job. They can do this because the system allows it, and supervisors keep pawning them off on others, or waiting until someone new takes over the area. I am a union member, but I got to tell ya if I had the right to fire at will I would be like Billy the Kid.
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57252
This is the same guy who thumbs his nose at the Congressional Ethics Panel when told he is violating the conflict of interest rules. He needs to clean up his own act before trying to stick it to feds or spinning statistics to stir up taxpayers against feds. Most of those "AWOL" have used up all of their annual and sick leave due to their own and family members' illness, emergencies, etc. There have been several major disasters in the USA during the last 3 years...hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the midwest floods, fires in the west, etc. Federal workers have lives outside their employment, and many affected by these disasters probably were on AWOL status due to needing time off but not having any leave. Mr. Coburn, don't report half the story or spin statistics to make yourself look like a taxpayer advocate and hardworking feds look bad.
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57248
Get rid of NSPS and the employees will have a motivation to come to work!
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57244
For all the rantings, we should just take a second and look at where these comments originated from. Sen. Coburn is a failed physician from Oklahoma that has pretty much been the laughing stock of the Senate since he got there. Even Oklahomans make fun of some of the completely ridiculous things he has said since he took office. And his cohort, Sen. Istook (R)Oklahoma, still completely denies the entire concept of global warming. And Oklahomans wonder why people in the rest of the country don't take them seriously.
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57222
You get what you pay for.
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57217
The last sentence of this article shows why this is a controversial issue. That sentence, "Coburn's report did not track whether or not employees were denied pay for the hours they did not work." Thus the approved "Leave Without Pay" that Federal employees used was included in the report's time that "employees were absent from work without taking leave". Congress, itself, has increased this time use via Public Law 103-3. OPM should clarify this issue for Senator Coburn, the Public, and Federal Employees.
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57189
So what are the supervisors doing about it or was that left out of the report? Get rid of these deadbeats - they make all federal employees look bad.
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57179
This is the strangest article...I have never seen any accounting of AWOL time. Time away from regular schedule is either charged against some type of leave or not accounted for in any manner. Strange the Departments would report on their incompetence. It must be in anticipation of Obama's "Change" program.
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57176
What about lunch? Everyday I see more employees taking more than 2 1/2 hours during their lunch breaks. They don't charge their leave for it. Oh I am sure the Supervisors and Managers are aware of it.
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57174
What kind of leave has Obama, McCain and Clinton and so many others used while conducting their extended campaigns? What about all of the re-election campaigns? I venture to say that ALL of them have collected ALL of their much HIGHER pay even though they were not only absent for sessions-they weren't even in DC and were actively campaigning for reelection so that they could continue to not represent their constituents and their country. We have, for the most part, career politicians who are wealthy and have no common ground with their constituents and have no idea the struggles the American people are facing. Congress will bail out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae for untold billions of dollars without hesitation but they seem to have no compassion for the ALL American workers. There will, of course, be no investigation of the accounting practices because it is a tangled web of deceit. Steroid use will have been investigated more than the bank failures, etc. Let's put Congress under NSBS and let them demonstrate how they have achieved more than their peers and let's determine their shares with most of it going to a one-time bonus! Let's put Congress under CSRS/FERS so they can feel the consequences of not receiving a raise or only a paltry one. Let's put them under FEHB so they can pay their "share" of the cost of medical treatment! So they can try to find a specialist in their area in their "network". Let's give them a taste of real life!
Congress needs to wake up and fight for our country--it's being sold piecemeal by wealthy individuals who are only interested in more MONEY! We need statesmen not career politicians. We need to implement term limits!!!
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57171
So, where are the supervisors? Something doesn't seem right about how to classify the type of time to charge for leave. All this is very well established in the OPM & timekeepers manuals, and even union agreements. Even that much disparity between agencies...I'm not buying this story, AWOL has a huge affect on pay, retirement everything it should only apply for it real intended use.
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57165
just want to thank Kim Bloomquist for actually reading Coburn's report and pointing out the errors in it. Her analysis confirms this is an acute isolated problem and not government wide as made to appear. In the interest of fairness, GovExec should print a correction or at least include her comments in the main article.
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57164
(Wow,Mike Kravchuk!!! "Bring back the old 8-4:30 work day."??? Walk towards the light and come out of that old, dark cave. (Just kidding). Workplace flexibilities, when used correctly by employees AND supervisors can benefit both an agency and its employees. I believe one of the keys is trust.)
As for this whole "AWOL" thing, I'd like to see how much of what was reported to the Senator was AWOL that actually remained AWOL on the timecards of employees. A lot of managers will tell timekeepers to record AWOL until they get proof that an employee should be charged with some other form of absence such as Leave without Pay (LWOP) or sick leave, etc. Sometimes this doesn't happen right away and timecards then have to be corrected in subsequent pay periods to reflect the correct types of absence. Things like this can make a real difference when it comes to data like this. I looked at the article in the link, but I couldn't tell from reading it if factors like this were taken into consideration in Senator Coburn's report.
Because of the varying practices and standards agencies use for charging employees with AWOL, I think that before Senator Coburn gets his panties in a bunch and goes on the warpath, he should have his staff do some thorough research of the data he receives. (Gee. That would imply that those children known as "Congressional staffers" actually know enough about the workings of the Federal government to know what questions to ask agencies. Silly me!!!)
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57162
pick at the federal worker again. Iwonder if all the AWOL's were GS employees and not NSPS? I know for a fact some employees who asked for time or had legitimate medical excuses were denied and charged AWOL..I also know of union people who, because they "work" with management and don't file complaints, are allowed to come and go as they please. Just depends on who you are. this happens in private sector too so don't BS us.
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57160
Management sets the example and unfortunately when no leave is deducted for absences....of course employees come to the realization what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Although Congress should not be pointing any fingers since the 2d Session of the Senate on a 'tentative' schedule will meet for 202 days (Jan-Dec 08, which is likely to change and be much less) while the House of Representatives (from Jan 08-Aug 08) a total of 96 days. Is it any wonder this is known as 'The Do Nothing Congress'?
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57152
My whole hearted thanks goes out the "Thewholestory".
In response to another article (one on the AWS) I admitted to feeling that some GS were making it hard for the rest of us, drawing the ire of several other contributors; but "Thewholestory" reminded me of something.
Not to say there isn't some of this going on, but I can now see a couple of very reasonable and valid explanations for leave without pay to be increasing. As our population ages, as constantly noted by this administration as a reason for their implementation of NSPS, more folks will encounter medical emergencies. Some of these emergencies have always led to a catastrophic loss of sick leave, regular leave, and other resources. Additionally, active recruitment of handicapped personnel may result in a larger population with higher than average medical problems. So saying, with the aging population and active recruitment of handicapped personnel, the number of such catastrophes may very well increase.
Without an explanation of the metrics being recorded and considered as AWOL, I must figure that includes the "Leave Without Pay" category as the largest, documented example of such. And, as previously noted, the incidents of these WILL increase as we age. Therefore, until these metrics are revealed, I must withdraw and apologize for any statements I made against my fellow workers; including my spouse who was in that same status due to no fault of her own.
Sorry, folks. My bad, I done it again. I can only hope the good Senator will also look more carefully at the data.
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57146
When Congress lives by the same laws as the public and givernment/military employees do, then I say that the law is fair; until then, these absences are unfounded and mere political rhetoric.
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57139
Hey its only $10B that was wasted no big deal, promotions and pay raises for everyone!! The lead article today talked about NSPS is there any wonder why the feds feel entitled, What you want us to WORK?? This is another reason to take action and force every agency into A76 competition every 5 years. I do love the fact that the protesters are actively AWOL and then blame their bosses that is just sick
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57137
There is a difference between AWOL and LWOP. Leave Without Pay is pre-approved and used when there are no leave balances left to take. Absent Without Leave means you didn't show and no one's heard from you. I think most of what this report is referring to is LWOP. The agency/manager has the right to not authorize LWOP, but usually employee requests it for very good reasons.
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57135
Is he also mixing up AWOL with LWOP - they are very different. What the heck is he really counting?? During times of tight budgets our agency encouraged us to use LWOP and many did. Over 30 years I only remember one person with AWOL time, so I think it also depends on the agency. Our agency was also very flexible in allowing use of LWOP in emergencies, especially family and medical emergencies.
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57128
An internet search shows that Sen Coburn missed 50 votes (7.8%) for the current session of Congress. Looks like he needs to self assess?
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57118
I found this information to be unbelievable. Are you certain your data includes only time that employees have been AWOL? ABSENCE WITHOUT LEAVE (AWOL) - Absence without prior approval, a nonpay status resulting from an Agency determination that it will not grant any type of leave (not even leave without pay) for a period of absence for which the employee did not obtain advance authorization or for which a request for leave has been denied. LEAVE WITHOUT PAY (LWOP) - A temporary nonpay status and nonduty status (or absence from a prescheduled tour of duty) granted at the employee's request. The request may be from a college student participating in a special training program that allows him/her to work full-time or part-time for a semester and be on LWOP for the next semester. There are other instances as well when LWOP is the appropriate action. LWOP-US (formerly called LWOP-MIL) is a nature of action specifically used to document a leave of absence to perform duty with the uniformed services.
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57114
Why should any agency be different from Congress. Look at how much Obama, Clinton, McCain have been absent without leave.
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57110
This could be only the tip of the iceburg. The government (Congress) is doing whatever it can to make the workday as painless as possible to the government employee. There are Flexible work Schedules, and Union agreements that basically now do not consider anyone late. There are Alternate workplace agreements where individuals are allowed to work under their flexible work schedules and union concerns when a supervisor has the audacity to even check on a person working at an alternate site. It might be better if the Senator looked into why this could be happening and maybe time to make sure the taxpayers are getting their moneys worth. Bring back the old 8-4:30 work day.
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57108
Those who live in glass houses shouldnt throw stones. Nothing is said about the little time spent by congress and the senate in performing their duties/time at work,also the amount of pay they receive for the little work you do when in session?Heres an idea, why not use the pay for performance system used in the rest of government service, or let the American people vote on the amount of pay/raises you deserve, with the way things are going for the people i really dont think you would be getting a raise any time soon.
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57106
I wonder what the Senator would find if he investigated Congress. There is more Fraud, Waste and Abuse going on at the higher level of Gov't than at the worker level. Let's "clean house" from the top down!!!!
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57103
I find this to be an interesting quote by the Senator - "Everyone knows that rule number one for any job is showing up," Coburn said. "No private company would put up with its employees refusing to show up for work, let alone watch the problem grow year after year." - mostly because it makes me wonder about that old saying about people who live in glass houses. Hey, Senator Coburn! What about all those Congressmen and Senators who don't show up for work? Doesn't that fit your comment nicely? How does it happen that no disciplinary action of any kind is taken against them? Could it be because most laws that are passed have a clause included that exempts Congressmen and Senators from the law that the rest of us have to obey?
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57100
I found Tom Coburn's report as unrevealing as most government agencies. Statistically, the actual report is a political ruse. If one looks at my former agency, and calculates the AWOL rate (time per employee) from the data presented, DOI has an awol rate equal to ONE HOUR PER YEAR PER EMPLOYEE. That, to me, considering it may be a small percentage who were awol and would affect the total, is miniscule. In our office, in 20 years, I can never recall an awol individual. Coburn is making political hay by not using numbers correctly.
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57098
I'm new to the system but have worked in the private sector for twenty plus years. One of the first problems I encounter was attendance and it has been an uphill battle. See call in listed below:s
January 2008 - 103 Sick Calls
February 2008 - 118 Sick Callss
March 2008 - 132 Sick Callss
April 2008 - 125 Sick Callss
May 2008 - 149 Sick Callss
June 2008 - 159 Sick Callss
July 2008 - 147 Sick Callss
These numbers are for my department only but total 933 employees calling in sick for a seven month period. These numbers are paid, AWOL, and leave without pay but regardless, it still 7,464 man hours not worked.
I for one could use any help the Senator has to offer.
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57097
It would be nice if Government Executive Magazine provided a little analysis to go along with its reporting. If you look at the table in the Appendix 1 of Senator Colburn's report, of the 1 million hours increase in reported AWOL hours between 2001 and 2007, 800,000 hours is due to new reporting by Homeland Security and the remaining 200,000 hours or so is attributed to Veteran's Affairs. So, all of the increase in AWOL hours can be attributed to those two agencies and the newly created TSA appears to be the source for the majority of the increase. As far as TSA goes, the agency hired thousands of new employees "off the street" with no leave balances. When these employees have a family emergency, what should they do? Is it possible a good deal of the "increase" in AWOL hours is related to such cases? Possibly the same is true of Veterans Affairs which has experienced an increase in its staffing (see Appendix 2 of Senator Colburn's report).
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57096
I take issue with the Seantor's blaming of this issue on the President. With 30 years of VA government service under my belt, it has been my experience that the front line managers take the bull by the horns and charge employees with Al or SL if they do not show up for work and also counsel them. If it persists, then they get fired. Management needs to keep better track of their employees and discipline those who do not show up on time or not at all. I agree that this would not be tolerated in the private sector. It should not be tolerated in government either. Thank you.
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57093
It is difficult to even begin to believe this is happening on this scale but if it is true, this is a management failure of the highest magnitude. The employees are guilty of fraud and abuse, but the buck stops with the manager. Both sides of the "desk" ought to be fired! Can't wait to see how someone spins this and blames the unions. Any manager unwilling to take action on violations of law does not deserve their job. And failure to know where your people are is every bit as bad. In out office you get ONE HOUR. if you fail to show we contact you to ensure you are all right. It is a pure employee welfare check and we have only had to do it twice in my 18 years and both times we found a VERY ill employee who needed assistance.
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57092
This is a good example of why good managers get out of management. Can't tell you how many employees I fired just to have upper management overturn it. Also, this is another reason to reward those of us who come to work by giving us credit for our sick leave hours under FERS.
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57090
It's good to know that admist the malaise and mayhem facing the American people, genocide around the globe, U.S. involvement in wars to two fronts (and on and on), at least one of our Senators, Tom Coburn, has seen fit to tackle the profound problem of federal employees coming in late to work, or missing a day's work. Keep up the good work Tom (I don't suppose there is much else you're qualified to do up there in D.C., except maybe to ensure youe re-election).
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57089
Hopefully Senator Coburn's office will not overreact?! While some offices may allow late attendance or (as characterized) AWOL, other office's work VERY hard, are on time, and often work unpaid OT. So any potential admonishment should be specifically directed and not dispersed to all Fed offices. Please don't yell at Fed employees about AWOL, while many are working (their regular, on-time work hrs AND) additional unpaid OT.........
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57087
Doesn't Senator Colburn have anything better to do than to sit there and count hours that government employees work or don't work. First of all if the employee is being charged AWOL it means that the employee did not have leave to take. Like me for instance. i am a disabled employee who got into leave trouble in the early 2000's. I was out of the office for nearly 2 years. I used up all the leave I had earned; joined the donated leave program and used all that leave too; I used all the advanced leave I could; So what was left? LWOP - I believed I used about a month's worth. During that time I had 6 surgeries, I was grateful that there was someway to keep my government job. So maybe others had legitimate reasons to take LWOP. I didn't see any information in the report as to why government employees needed to use this time. Could it have been a disaster that ate up all their sick/annual leave; a family emergency; were they a new employee with no leave balance; i am willing to admit that some in the government don't care and just take as much time off as possible, but then again others have no where else to turn. So shouldn't we have a catastrophic leave program to help those employees out who have long bouts of cancer; disabilities that require extra medical attention; whose family is going through a crisis; or who world was torn apart by some hurricane or or even man-made disaster.
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57086
I am one of the people with AWOL but honestly the DOD is using it way too often. I had doctor's excuses, death of my father and I am under the FMLA severe medical condition protections. Life is not constant smooth sailing-granted it is our responsibility to get to work but sometimes life throws a big curve and it had to be handled. The employees responsibility is to call in--and let his immediate supervisor know what is going on if possible. DOD is using the AWOL as a method of getting rid of people they don't like because we speak our minds and defend ourselves to the upmost. People that just go along smooth sailing..no awol from them. The teachers pet syndrome is very very widely used. You do this and I'll do that just for you kinda of thing. People getting promoted because they do good work..yea right on.. AWOL is a bad mark on any person's record but sometimes the supervisors need to sit and LISTEN rather than prejudging the situation. Even in medical areas--they cannot overrule what a doctors says about his patient..but they do..
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57082
What exactly does AWOL mean? What percentage of total Federal employment does the 300,000 "AWOL" represent? What percentage does the 3.5 million hours "AWOL" represent of total hours in 2007 that Federal workers put into their jobs? A lot of questions for Senatror Coburn, with his obvious bias against Federal employees, to answer. I have another question for him. How about all of the years that Republican senators have been AWOL in doing something for the U.S. economy, apart from tax breaks for the wealthy?
T.M.
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57081
I've seen this problem increase over the years from and expanding from typical non-performers arriving late and/or leaving early or 'disappearing' for hours during the day to good performers seeing that others do not get charged, therefore the practice has expanded to them. By not making the employee accountable to be present at work during working hours, management has encouraged the spread of this problem.
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57027
Sen. Coburn says, "No private company would put up with this..." That's not true from my observation of contractors. For example, we had 2 SAIC employees just disappear for a few days, leaving a critical Navy system unmanned. It wasn't the first time either. Weeks later their pictures turned up on the internet showing they'd been at a big sporting event. SAIC took no action and you dear taxpayer continue to pay their $120k salaries. Coburn is right to hold people accountable. Yet, I can honestly say I don't know of any fed or military in my office doing the same stuff the contractors get away with. (BTW - the pictures of the SAIC employees are still on the web)
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57025
What do you expect, federal service has been turned into a job's program.
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57024
If most agencies gather stats the way my agency does, then they are unreliable. My agency wastes time gathering stats and looking for ways to punish employees rather than try to improve the work place so that the employees at least like to come to work. Nobody says we have to be happy at work like we were at one time.
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57013
I doubt that the Senator is in the senate chambers 100% of the time that legislative matters are being addressed nor is he at all committee and sub-committee meetings.
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57012
Gee I wonder if this has anything to do with all the time the vet's have to weight on the VA to make a decision on there case. it's time for the V.A to find out what a caution and requirement slip is for . If they don't know just ask the DoD.
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