Imagine skipping work for six years, collecting a full salary, and going completely unnoticed until the day you're set to receive an award for your long service. That's exactly what happened to Joaquin Garcia, a Spanish civil servant, whose extended "vacation" finally came to light in 2010 when his employer planned to honour him for 20 years of service.
According to BBC, Mr Garcia began working as a plant supervisor for a municipal water company in Cadiz, Spain, in 1990. However, a bureaucratic oversight allowed him to slip through the cracks. Due to confusion between two departments- each assuming the other was monitoring him- Mr Garcia managed to avoid work entirely while continuing to receive his full annual salary of $41,500 (approximately Rs 36 lakh).
Jorge Blas Fernandez, Cadiz's deputy mayor from 1995 to 2015, was the one who had initially hired Mr Garcia. "We thought the water company was supervising him, but that wasn't the case. We only discovered it when we were about to present him with a commemorative plaque for 20 years of service," The Guardian reported him as saying.
Tasked with locating Mr Garcia, Mr Blas was shocked to find that no one had seen him at work in years. "I asked myself if he was still working there, if he had retired, or if he had died. But his payroll showed he was still getting paid," he recalled.
When confronted, Mr Garcia had no clear explanation for his prolonged absence. His lawyer later argued that he had been a victim of workplace bullying and, fearing job loss, chose not to report it. His associates told El Mundo that instead of working, he spent his time reading philosophy.
In the end, a court ruled against Mr Garcia, imposing a fine of $30,000 (approximately Rs 25 lakh)-equivalent to one year's salary after taxes-for his six-year absence.
