Spanish man gets paid for six years without working, fined

A Spanish man reportedly received a full salary for six years without doing any work.

The man, identified as Joaquin Garcia, was employed as a building supervisor at a water treatment plan in Cadiz, Spain.

He was able to dodge work by taking advantage of a mix-up between his bosses at a water company. The two departments presumed the other was responsible for monitoring Joaquín’s work.

His absence went unnoticed until he failed to appear at a ceremony honouring his long service.

Authorities later discovered that Garcia had stopped attending work but continued drawing his salary, amounting to $41,000 (Rs 36 lakh) per year.

Cádiz’s deputy mayor, Jorge Blas, got the responsibility to locate the employee. When Blas eventually caught Joaquín, the employee didn’t have a concrete explanation for why he hadn’t performed any work.

Blas recalled the uncomfortable dialogue, “I asked myself if he was still working there, if he had retired, if he had died. But his payroll indicated he was still getting paid."

Investigations revealed that his absence had gone unnoticed due to lack of oversight.

Following the revelation, the man was fined $30,000 (almost 25 lakh).