Fulton County’s health department is a little short-staffed after 19 inspectors got in trouble for allegedly billing taxpayers for hours they never worked.
The county had 50 employees inspecting Fulton’s roughly 6,000 restaurants, but now the health department is down to 31, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Shortly after taking over the department in May, interim director Dr. Sandra Ford was tipped off that some of her inspectors were fudging their time cards.
“It had come to our attention that several staff were not being accurate about the time they were keeping,” Ford said. “And these were not small discrepancies ... Sixteen staff were suspended, one was terminated, two resigned and the investigation is ongoing.”
Fulton County’s health inspectors are expected to work eight-hour days and inspect a minimum of four restaurants. The workers are supposed to note the time they complete their restaurant inspections, but many didn’t, and some were stealing as much as two hours a day, Ford said.
“The expectation of an inspector is to basically operate without close monitoring,” she said. “It’s a trust that you place in an employee, and when that’s violated, it’s a big deal.”
Those who were caught were given suspensions ranging from five to 30 days, Channel 2 reported.
Ford said her department has enough people to continue the health inspections in the meantime, but she said those punished included new workers as well as those who have inspected restaurants for years.
Ford said her department’s investigation is ongoing and that there are still employees who have not been interviewed about the allegations.
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