DMV Employee Took A Three-Hour Nap On The Job Every Day For Years And Still Kept Her Job, Audit Finds

A Department of Motor Vehicles worker at a local branch in California has been taking three hour naps on the clock for four years. Her nap ended up being pretty expensive, costing taxpayers upwards of $40,000, the state’s auditor revealed in a new report.

According to the audit report obtained by the NY Post,

“A key data operator at the Department of Motor Vehicles failed to perform her essential duties over a period of nearly four years because she slept at her desk for extended periods of time during work hours. From February 2014 through December 2017, the employee misused more than 2,200 hours of work time as a result of sleeping on the job, costing the State more than $40,000.”

Her supervisors failed to take any disciplinary action towards the sleepy worker despite constant complaints from fellow co-workers. The report states they refused to act because the supervisors were worried she might have a medical condition that was causing her to fall asleep.

However, as the report states, “State law allows appointing powers to require employees to submit to medical examinations to evaluate their capacity to perform their work.” Nonetheless, supervisors failed to request accommodation for a medical condition until June 2016, over two years into the employee’s constant napping.

In June 2016, when the employee did seek medical help, physicians told her and the DMV that she could not perform any of the duties of a key operator. Thus began months of trying to figure out where to place her. In November, the DMV gave her an ultimatum, saying that she could retire, resign, or return to work as a key data operator with a release from her physician indicating that she could perform her duties.

The employee chose to return to work as a key data operator with a release from her physician, despite the physician originally saying she could not perform the duties. In January 2017, she resumed sleeping at work, and was again not performing her duties properly. The supervisors continued to ignore her behavior, and the worker is still reportedly employed by the DMV.

Fox News reported that the audit indicated the proper documentation was completed in March 2018. At that time, the employee was warned she could be disciplined for her actions. In the months since the audit investigation has been completed, the DMV has said it has been consulting with their human resources office to decide what the department’s next steps should be.

According to the NY Post, “This case is one of 1,481 instances of “improper governmental activities” that the California state auditor’s office has investigated over the past year.”