ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) – A new investigation into the city of Albuquerque into a public swimming pool reveals rampant season ticket fraud and unsupervised workers. Workers stamped each other in and out, left and right, and replenished their paychecks. According to a report from the Inspector General, a tipster warned the city that workers, including the two bosses, were committing time card fraud.
The city’s inspector general said the pool manager checked in and out of her water program coordinator 131 times over a three-month period earlier this year. There are also nearly 50 seasonal and part-time workers at the pool, some of them also arriving late and leaving early to clock each other in and out to fill their timesheets. The IG report states that employee IDs and scan cards are all pinned to a bulletin board so that they can easily clock each other in and out.
“Well, they’re getting paid for something they don’t do, and that’s wrong,” said James Whitaker, who lives in Albuquerque. “That’s wrong. It could affect the people who go in.”
The IG bureau called on the city’s park and recreation department to tighten pass-pass guidelines and discipline workers involved in the fraud. Parks and Rec said they had already made changes by placing cameras near the timer and telling workers to keep their own ID and scan cards.
Inspectors said the water program coordinator tried to talk his way out of the anger, but a comparison of the surveillance video with his stamp card entries knocked him out. The inspectors also looked into whether the workers were eating silly and two-hour lunches. They looked at the video surveillance and found one worker on his phone for an hour and a half and another doing her hair and makeup for an hour and a half.
Jessica Campbell of the city’s Parks and Rec Department emailed the following statement on the IG’s report:
“We are grateful to the Inspector General’s Office for their investigation and recommendations in this case. After reviewing the report, it does not appear that there was any malicious intent behind the clock discrepancy. As a result, the department has already implemented changes as recommended by the Inspector General – including installing security cameras near time clocks in the Highland Pool and all other water facilities, conducting additional training for staff, ensuring that policies and procedures are up to date, and requiring the Employees to keep their own ID cards and scan cards in their possession. “
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