IRS rehired hundreds of employees with histories of poor performance


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
The Internal Revenue Service has been much in the news lately over the agency's complaints that it lacks adequate funding and staff to manage the 2015 tax season effectively. But a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) suggests that the staffers the IRS does have may be more worrisome than the ones it doesn't.
That's because the IRS rehired some 323 former employees between January 2010 and July 2013 who had previously left the agency for being terrible at their jobs. While some were merely "failing critical job elements at the time they had separated from their prior employment with the IRS," others had committed more serious offenses, like looking at people's tax records that they were not authorized to view.
The IRS told TIGTA it does not give much consideration to past performance when considering a rehire.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
How could a government shutdown affect you financially?
The Explainer The status of various food, housing, and loan programs may become uncertain if the government shuts down
By Becca Stanek Published
-
Judge Thomas' tip jar
By The Week Staff Published
-
The daily gossip: 'Harry Potter' stars pay tribute to Michael Gambon, Hasan Minhaj revelations may have cost him the 'Daily Show' hosting gig, and more
The daily gossip: September 28, 2023
By Brendan Morrow Published
-
Elon Musk used Starlink, which saved Ukraine, to thwart a Ukrainian attack on Russia's Crimea fleet
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Fitch downgrades US credit rating, citing 'repeated debt-limit political standoffs'
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Bed Bath & Beyond relaunches online following bankruptcy
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
San Francisco's iconic Anchor Brewing is closing after 127 years
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Lawmakers say tax prep companies illegally shared taxpayer data with Meta and Google
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Microsoft wins FTC battle to acquire Activision Blizzard
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Tesla reports record quarter for sales
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
48 states sue telecom company over billions of robocalls
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published