HAROLD HUTCHISON
The Department of Transportation’s inspector general agreed to audit the agency’s remote work policies after numerous allegations of abuse, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Inspector General Eric J. Soskin informed Republican Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Ted Cruz of Texas about the upcoming investigation in a July 2 letter obtained by the DCNF. The senators had repeatedly pressed the inspector general to investigate the agency after whistleblowers came forward alleging that federal employees abused remote work policies, but Soskin previously declined to audit the effects of telework in September, claiming that it would be “premature.”
“The Biden administration has done everything in its power to pump the brakes on holding teleworking bureaucrats accountable,” Ernst told the DCNF. “It should not take a year and multiple requests to get the Department of Transportation OIG into motion and to admit it is no longer ‘premature’ to get federal employees to show up to work. I hope this audit is moving full steam ahead. This must not become another stop on the train of excuses and delays.”
Ernst and Cruz informed Soskin of allegations from whistleblowers from multiple agencies involving failures to meet in-office work requirements, fraud and waste in a June 18 letter provided exclusively to the DCNF.
“In the seven months since your response, whistleblowers from the FAA and FRA have contacted us about fraud, waste, and abuse occurring at the department,” Cruz and Ernst wrote in the June 18 letter. “Additionally, the head of the independent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has lamented how lax standards elsewhere make it difficult for her to set a meaningful office work policy, and DOT has continued to post numerous ‘remote’ listings for headquarters jobs.”
Ernst and Cruz also noted sparse attendance at the headquarters of the Department of Transportation in the letter.
“To date, the cafeteria in the headquarters’ East Tower remains closed for lack of demand for its services,” the senators wrote. “The Department has also reportedly permanently shuttered its Executive Dining Room across from Secretary Buttigieg’s office, a dining area reserved for DOT political appointees and senior Department employees, for lack of business.”
Soskin told Ernst and Cruz that his office would announce the probe into the Department of Transportation’s handling of remote work and telework policies in the summer.
“DOT had not yet completed the rollout and implementation of its current in-office requirements and remote work policies—which the Department has revised multiple times in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Soskin said in his July 2 response. “DOT’s current requirements went into effect fully in December 2023, and we concur that the passage of time is a relevant consideration. As such, in accordance with your request, we plan to announce this summer an audit of DOT’s oversight of its in-office, telework, and remote work policies.”
“We also appreciate your notice of our investigation of a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) employee, who recently pleaded guilty to the theft of more than $120,000 in taxpayer funds via payroll fraud,” Soskin wrote. “We take seriously our obligation to investigate and pursue wrongdoers within DOT.”
A federal judge sentenced Brian Francis Reilly to 36 months in prison for using a mailbox at a UPS facility in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania to continue collecting locality pay for Washington, D.C., stealing $123,641.32, according to an April 23 release by the Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General.
“I am pleased that at Sen. Ernst’s and my request, the DOT Inspector General has agreed to conduct the long overdue independent review of the agencies’ telework and remote work policies, and I am hopeful that this review will help to get Federal employees back in the office,” Cruz said in a statement to the DCNF. “As the Ranking Member of the Commerce Committee, I’ve shared my frustration about Federal agencies who let employees collect paychecks from the taxpayer without showing up to work. DOT has an important safety mission and must bring employees back to work to achieve it effectively.”
Ernst introduced the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems (SHOW UP) Act, Sept. 13 to address issues with telecommuting as part of a package of legislation to rein in the “administrative state.” She previously wrote to 24 agencies, including the Department of Transportation, the State Department, the Department of Defense and the Justice Department, in August 2023.
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