Senior IRS Official Lois Lerner Put On Paid Administrative Leave
By now, most Americans have heard of Lois Lerner, the senior IRS official in charge of the tax-exempt office at the heart of the agency’s recent scandal.
After planting a question to reveal the scandal and subsequently pleading the 5th during yesterday’s House committee hearing, she’s well on her way to becoming America’s favorite bureaucrat.
Well, it seems that the IRS has finally taken action.
National Review Online is reporting today that Lerner was placed on administrative leave. Chad Pergram of FOX News adds that the leave will be paid.
Though the IRS is finally taking action to hold those at the heart of the scandal accountable, let’s not kid ourselves. Lerner will continue to receive her full government salary—roughly $185,000—only now she won’t have to report to work to receive it.
For more insight into the government’s administrative leave program, check out this piece in the Washington Post profiling 6 people who were/are on paid government leave.
Take Paul Brachfield, he was placed on paid administrative leave in September 2012 for accusations of misconduct. The board that reviews cases such as his only meets four times a year. So in the meantime he’s just…hanging out.
“These days, his life seems like one long vacation. The veteran watchdog for the historical records agency is entering his fourth month on paid time off, one of an unspecified number of federal employees who are collecting paychecks and benefits to do . . . nothing. At least nothing to advance the immediate interests of the government.”
The same goes for William Porter, a former program analyst for the Department of Health and Human Services.
“But Porter says months passed without his hearing from a supervisor, and he was given very few assignments. ‘They’re having me sit and do nothing, and I’m collecting six figures.'”
It’s important for Lerner to be held accountable for the actions of the department for which she was responsible. But’s let not fool ourselves that this is something other than a temporary taxpayer vacation.