Civil servant fails to show up – for six years

A civil servant in Spain must pay back more than $30,000 after it was discovered he hadn’t shown up for work for nearly six years.

The worker’s absence was only noticed when he became eligible to collect a long-service award.

A court ruling says the employee of a city-owned water utility didn’t appear at the office for up to six years and “did absolutely no work” from 2007 to 2010 prior to his retirement in 2011.

His fine was equivalent to one year's salary after tax and was the most that the company could legally reclaim, reported the BBC.

The decision marked the end of legal process lasting years after Cadiz city officials sought the penalty and the worker appealed it.

The court heard that the boss of the water company had not seen him for years despite occupying an office opposite his.

The water company thought he was supervised by the local authorities and vice versa.

Then-deputy mayor Jorge Blas Fernandez noticed the absence when the man became due to receive a plaque for 20 years' service.

The ruling says the civil servant cannot be named because of a Spanish privacy law.

According to the BBC, people close to the man told Spanish newspaper El Mundo that he did go to the office, although not for full business hours every day, and that he dedicated himself to reading philosophy.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 9:06 AM with the headline "Civil servant fails to show up – for six years."