A state audit in Nebraska identified a number of benefits and services Revenue Department employees received from vendors of state lottery tickets. The Revenue Department is responsible for the state lottery system. The lead auditor, Mike Foley, thought the finding was significant enough that it may create a conflict of interest among the state employees.
The Nebraska Tax Commissioner who oversees the department confirms that nothing illegal was done. The benefits include a $1,600 dinner, $115 for lunch and a movie and a charity golf outing, in which eight employees missed a day of work to play. The total amount of these perks from the three largest vendors was up to $7,344 in 2008, but dropped considerable to $1,004 for the 2010 year. The tax commissioner has identified the recent decline as a conscious effort by the department to limit the benefits they receive.
The main controversy here comes down to what are standard perks that go along with this type of work. In other words, were the employees doing anything that was out of the ordinary, or unreasonable given the nature of their jobs? When you first read the story, you instantly think this is crazy that they get these benefits, especially those during working hours. As I reread the article, however, I don’t think the employees or the department acted inappropriately. The events all had sound business reasons and did not have unreasonable expenses.
The one problem I have with the benefits the employees took is that some of them took a full work day off to attend a golf outing. The article then went on to say that six out of the eight employees in attendance did not put in extra time at work that week to make up for the missed time. These employees should be told that it is not wrong for them to attend the event, as long as they make up the work time they miss.
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