By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
A former FEMA official hired four employees with criminal backgrounds, paying them nearly $350,000 in combined annual salaries, a report has revealed.
Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth said the unidentified chief security officer knew about the criminal backgrounds of two of the employees and hired them anyway, the Associated Press reports.
The employees were fired in 2012.
Roth recommended an investigation by the Homeland Security Department’s chief financial officer to determine whether other violations occurred. Roth also said the chief security officer should enforce premium pay rules.
A FEMA spokesman said the agency supports the recommendation and added that the agency has “taken a number of corrective actions to prevent current and future misuse” of pay rules.
