A tax auditor for the city’s Finance Department called in sick for 13 weeks over an 18-month period, and barely did her job when she did show up, according to official documents.
Joan Kateme, a municipal employee since 2011, was often seen reading the newspaper, listening to music on her headphones or playing games on her smart phone while she was supposed to be working, supervisors said.
Kateme also claimed it took four hours to punch holes in a few tax returns and six hours to place the documents in metal fasteners.
“On numerous occasions over a period of many days, when [her supervisor] passed by [Kateme’s] desk, [Kateme] was doing nothing but staring into space, and remaining immobile for hours at a time,” city officials told an administrative law judge on Jan. 11.
Judge Ingrid Addison reviewed Kateme’s employment history and saw that she was rated “unsatisfactory” in each of five years she was employed by the city, although she had been well qualified for the job.
“This is the case of a worker who does not wish to follow the directions laid out in a well-crafted plan, either because she is bored, could not be bothered with the requirements of the job, or thinks the tasks too menial for her level of qualifications,” Addison wrote.
“[Kateme’s] persistent unwillingness to perform her job therefore constitutes incompetence as well as misconduct, for deliberately failing to follow her supervisor’s directives.”
Addison recommended that Kateme, who failed to appear for her trial, be terminated.