A former state worker paid a $2,500 penalty in reference to holding two state jobs concurrently and submitting timesheets for 31 overlapping hours.
The State Ethics Commission on Monday mentioned Brooke Merkin submitted timesheets searching for fee for principally distant work from two employers, the Center for Health Information and Analysis and the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security.
Ethics regulators mentioned Merkin would have been paid greater than $1,200 in unearned, undue compensation had the 2 businesses not found the double billing. When she tried to resign from each jobs in March 2021, each businesses declined to just accept her resignation and terminated her employment as a substitute.
The fee, which dismissed an adjudicatory continuing towards her upon fee of the civil penalty, mentioned Merkin started work as a fulltime “deskside support engineer” with CHIA on Jan. 25, 2021, after which on Feb. 16 additionally started working as a parttime service desk analyst for EOTSS.
Merkin held each positions “without either state agency’s approval or awareness, and gave false excuses to CHIA when she was unavailable during hours she was working for EOTSS,” the fee mentioned, citing battle of curiosity legislation violations and timesheet submissions that broke “fraudulent claims” legal guidelines.
According to the disposition settlement within the case, Merkin was scheduled to work for CHIA from 8:45 a.m. to five p.m. Monday by way of Friday, and for EOTTS from 7 a.m. to three p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. The settlement mentioned that between Feb. 19, 2021 and March 2, 2021 Merkin sought fee from the state for working each positions “during the same hours, for a total of 31 overlapping hours.”
“Merkin knew she submitted to CHIA and EOTSS timesheets for 31 hours that overlapped and knowingly gave false excuses to CHIA for her unavailability during hours when she was working for EOTSS,” the disposition settlement mentioned.
“On February 19, 2021, she told her manager at CHIA that she could not work a full day due to an internet outage at her home,” the settlement provides. “She was approved to work the remainder of the day using her cell phone. Later that day, she claimed mice had chewed through her internet cables. She submitted timesheets to both CHIA and EOTSS falsely reporting 6 hours worked for each agency, between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., on February 19, 2021.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”