Civil servant misses work for six years

A SPANISH civil servant who failed to turn up for work for six years was discovered when he was considered for an award for loyal service.

Retired public employee Joaquín García, who was still collecting his €37,000 (£31,000) annual salary, was ordered by Cádiz city hall on Friday to pay €27,000 in compensation.

He had been sent by the city council to oversee the building of a waste-water treatment plant in the south-western city but records show he had not turned up for work since 2004. Mr García responded by filing his own complaint demanding that José Blas Fernández, the councillor in charge of personnel at the time, be disciplined for failing to notice his absence.

Mr Fernández took action against Mr García in 2010 after seeing his name on a list of employees due to receive awards for long service. Recalling that he had been sent to a post at Cádiz Water, Mr Fernández visited the waterworks to find that Mr García’s colleagues had no idea where he was. “They assumed he had been sent back to city hall,” Mr Fernández said. An investigation found the phantom civil servant had not clocked in to work for six years from 2004.

Mr García said he had visited his office but that there was nothing for him to do. He said he was the victim of workplace bullying due to disagreements between the council and the water company.