A state audit of California Department of Motor Vehicles operations has found obscene levels of waste and inefficiency—unfortunately nothing really surprising when dealing with state or federal bureaucracy—however, the level of absurdity in terms of government ineptitude and abuse is aptly demonstrated in a section of the audit report now going viral, which details that DMV supervisors knew an employee slept three hours a day on the job for nearly four years.

The report found that from February 2014 through December 2017, the DMV employee slept through a total of 2,200 hours’ worth of work, costing California taxpayers more than $40,000, and true to form that is the 'high bar' of exceptional performance that is the typical DMV, the employee was never fired or so much as given a formal reprimand.

"The Office"

The unnamed snoozing employee is a data admin clerk that oversees updating address changes and vehicle ownership forms, a job that according the audit averages 560 processed documents per day, but the worker produced only 200 error-filled documents.

While fully aware of the poor performance and daily siestas, supervisors "failed to take disciplinary or medical action against the employee after initial efforts to address her conduct proved unsuccessful," the audit said.

Perhaps most revealing of the innate ineptitude of state bureaucracy is the section that details why disciplinary action was not pursued: DMV officials told the state auditors that they couldn't do anything for lack of a properly documented track record of bad behaviors. So the sleeping employee could ultimately continue taking naps on the California taxpayer's dime with impunity.

The audit recorded other similar instances in parallel agencies, according to the report's highlight summary of findings:

Four employees at several agencies misused state time and cost the State approximately $160,000. Two employees either took extended breaks or left the premises over a five‑year period . One employee regularly left early from work over two years. One employee slept at her desk for extended periods of time during work hours.



Auditors found the latter example so glaring that they gave the instance its own summary section on the first page of the report:

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.

And further according to the report human resources didn't have "appropriate language necessary for such disciplinary action" — meaning nothing could be done because there was no paper trail.

Apparently the audit process itself has finally produced a formal reprimand for the employee, however, the DMV is still considering "the next steps to take with the employee". So yes it appears the 4-year long siesta-taking worker is still an active California DMV employee.

As for the supervisors that for years allowed it to happen, they'll simply be given formal classes "on the importance of following the State’s progressive discipline process."

It total the California State Auditor's Office found 1,481 instances of alleged improper governmental activities. Naturally we wonder what a similar audit of Congress, the IRS, or other federal agency would find.