Ethics Corner

This series on ethics presents cautionary examples drawn from the DoD Standards of Conduct Office Encyclopedia of Ethical Failures.

If you have questions about ethics or are unsure about a certain course of conduct, contact the NASCC Staff Judge Advocate’s office by calling (361) 961-3535.

Today’s story is about unexcused absences.

An employee of a military service was not particularly careful about his time reporting. The employee arrived late, left early, and left the building for extended periods of undocumented time. Of 289 workdays reviewed during an investigation, the employee was found to have worked less than the required 8.5 hours on 135 occasions (47% of the time); all told, the employee misstated his work hours by over 100 hours.

For his unscrupulous timekeeping, the employee received a letter of reprimand and was charged leave to accurately reflect his attendance.

In a similar case, an employee of a DoD facility was issued a letter of warning and instruction after she arrived late on several days but left at the scheduled shift completion time without claiming leave or reporting her tardiness to management.

The letter instructed the employee to sign-in and sign-out. Notwithstanding the letter, it was later determined that the employee continued to fail to fulfill her time commitments, leaving over an hour early on multiple occasions.

The employee was issued a letter of reprimand for leaving the worksite without permission.