BALTIMORE — A new Inspector General report highlights a complaint from the City's Department of Public Works (DPW) alleging a DPW employee submitted a fraudulent job offer letter to earn a raise.
This letter was sent to DPW management to receive a counteroffer and negotiate a higher salary.
In September 2023, DPW HR learned an employee allegedly received an employment offer from a non-City Government Agency and DPW was interested in matching the offer.
After DPW contacted the agency, they were informed the offer letter appeared fraudulent.
The letter submitted by the employee listed an offer with an annual compensation of $100,435.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) looked at the offer letter in Adobe Acrobat.
The document showed text boxes with historical comments entered with the DPW employee's username. The employee then confirmed the letter they provided was fraudulent and explained they wanted a 10% pay increase.
DPW terminated the employee. The OIG learned after the termination the City listed the DPW Employee as “eligible for rehire.”
The City’s Department of Human Resources (DHR) explained that the City does not have a specific policy that determines when an employee is permanently not eligible for rehire.
