The king of the absentees: an Italian who has been absent from work for 15 years – economic, financial and economic news

A man who missed his job for 15 years is the topic of the day in Italy where the press has called him “king of the absent”.

The man, who was officially listed as an employee of the Pugliese Ciaccio public hospital in the Calabrian town of Catanzaro, received during this period a salary amounting to 538 thousand euros.

At 67, Salvatore Scumace – as he is known – now faces charges of abuse of power, forgery and aggravated extortion.

Six managers are also under investigation suspected of having contributed to allowing his alleged absenteeism, which is very common in the Italian public sector.

Police gathered his evidence and pay slips, along with witness statements from his colleagues. The alleged fraudster is accused of having threatened his superior at that time not to issue a disciplinary report against him. Eventually this manager retired and his replacement never noticed the absence of Scumace, who is now 66 years old.

In 2016, the government toughened a law against workers after several high-profile police investigations revealed how rampant absenteeism was in the public sector.

During an investigation, police used secret surveillance cameras to capture 35 Sanremo City Hall employees who had been cheating the time management system for at least two years. The wives of two of the employees were caught using their husbands’ staff cards to log in, while other staff members checked in before canoeing, shopping or hanging out. friends.

In another case, a traffic policeman living in the same building where he worked was caught on camera ticking in his underwear before going back to bed.

Scumace’s case was discovered in July 2020 as part of a broader investigation by authorities into Italian public sector fraud, and Scumace was ultimately sacked in October of the same year.