Man Sued Irish Rail Who Paid Him $126,000 To 'Do Nothing' At Work. Here's why

A railway employee in Dublin, Ireland, filed a lawsuit against his bosses because he has no work to do at the office. He claims that he is given very little work during his job and that this is done to punish him for raising questions about the railroads' accounts.

According to a report by The Daily Star, Dermot Alastair Mills has claimed that after it emerged that he had blown the whistle on irregular accounting matters at the company in 2014, he was sidelined and given no work to do.

The Independent reported that Mr. Mills, who is a finance manager at Irish Rail, says his duties were "hacked down to nothing" after he made a protected disclosure nine years ago, and that he now spends most of his working week reading newspapers, eating sandwiches, and going for long walks.

"I'd say if I got something that required me to do work once a week, I'd be thrilled," Dermot Alastair Mills told the Workplace Relations Commission at a hearing. Mr. Mills said that he is being paid $126,000 a year for doing nothing.

"I buy two newspapers, The Times and The Independent, and a sandwich. I go into my cubicle, I turn on my computer, and I look at emails. There are no emails associated with work, no messages, no communications, no colleague communications," he said.

"I sit and I read the newspaper and I eat my sandwich. Then, about 10.30 a.m., if there's an email that requires an answer, I answer it. If there's work associated with it, I do that work."