Two Spanish Men Don't Show Up to Work for 15 Years

Two Spanish Men Don't Show Up to Work for 15 Years

By: Daniel Steingold | July 01, 2016

Two government workers in Spain skipped out on work for 15 years, and no one noticed, according to a new investigation by the Spanish government.

The two employees— a gardener and a driver— continued to cash their paychecks, despite not having worked since 2001. An initial probe had found that neither had worked from January 2015 through May 2016.

One of the employees has returned to work since the full investigation. Both will face disciplinary measures, although it is uncertain what these penalties will entail.

It turns out that government workers being negligent is no rarity in Jerez de la Frontera, this city in Southern Spain.

An investigation of the city’s police force found that one officer worked just 47 days out of the entire year of 2015. Other officers had worked only 66 and 96 days out of the year.

These officers had claimed that they were at meetings on their days missed— these meetings never took place.

In another nearby city in Spain called Cadiz, another worker was caught after not having shown up to work for six years.

The man, who served as a building supervisor at a government water treatment plant, was caught upon not being at work to receive a recognition for two decades of service. He was fined the equivalent to $30,000, despite his salary being $41,500.

The union for the two men in Jerez de la Frontera have tried to justify the workers’ absence.


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