TIGTA: IRS Rehired Hundreds of Former Employees With Performance Issues, Including Failing to File Tax Returns

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released  Additional Consideration of Prior Conduct and Performance Issues Is Needed When Hiring Former Employees (2015-10-006):

Between January 2010 and September 2013, IRS records show that the IRS hired more than 7,000 former employees (78 percent were temporary or seasonal positions). Most rehired employees do not have performance or conduct issues associated with prior IRS employment. However, TIGTA found that the IRS did hire hundreds of former employees with these types of issues. TIGTA reviewed a random sample from more than 300 employees with significant prior performance or conduct issues who were hired between January 2010 and July 2013 and determined that the IRS appropriately applied OPM suitability standards (e.g., determining whether applicants had prior criminal activity, material false statements, or illegal drug use).  

However, TIGTA identified hundreds of former employees who were hired with prior substantiated conduct or performance issues.  For example, 141 former employees with prior substantiated tax issues, including five who the IRS found had willfully failed to file their Federal tax returns, were hired.  Other substantiated issues from previous IRS employment included unauthorized access to taxpayer information, leave abuse, falsification of official forms, unacceptable performance, misuse of IRS property, and off-duty misconduct.

Although they may meet OPM suitability standards, rehiring prior employees with known conduct and performance issues presents increased risk to the IRS and taxpayers.  For example, TIGTA found that nearly 20 percent of the hired former employees sampled with prior substantiated or unresolved conduct or performance issues had new conduct or performance issues (e.g., tax noncompliance or unauthorized access to tax account information).

Washington Times, IRS Knowingly Rehired Tax Cheats, Other Employees With ‘Performance’ Issues: Audit:

The IRS rehired hundreds of employees who had previous records of bad performance at the agency, including 141 former employees who had botched their own tax returns, and others who had used their positions to peek at private tax information, the agency’s inspector general said in a report released Thursday.

Five IRS employees were rehired even though the agency knew they had intentionally failed to file their taxes within the last two years, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George said. Of the employees with prior problems, nearly 20 percent of them had more problems after they got re-hired.