A Baltimore Official Was Paid Twice Over, Costing City $34,600 In Unearned Wages, Inspector General Finds
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A Baltimore government official was given double pay, costing the city $34,615,40 in his paychecks, and did not disclose the extra money to his boss, the city's inspector general found.
The official is not identified in a public report of the investigation published Wednesday.
He worked in a finance role in a city department, and "he was not qualified as to education or work experience to hold the position at all," said Inspector General Isabella Mercedes Cummings in the report.
The investigation revealed that for almost five months, the official received double his bi-weekly pay.
When the official was hired, he was entered into the Human Resource Information System as a salaried employee and an hourly employee.
The inspector general found that the official did not contact Central Payroll Division (CPD) until he noticed he was no longer receiving his double pay.
Once the error was discovered, he was told he had to pay the money back, which he eventually agreed to repay over a period of 26 pay periods.
The official was "separated from city employment" as a result of the investigation, according to Mayor Catherine Pugh's official response to the inspector general. Pugh said she was directing the city to recover the overpaid money.
The official said he overlooked the excess payments because his checking account automatically transferred any money over $5,000 to several other accounts based on pre-determined percentages.
Bank officials denied such a feature exists and said the transfers must be manually completed.
The double payments occurred between October 2017 and March 2018.
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