Spanish man paid for six years without work, caught before receiving award

A Spanish civil servant skipped work for six years, drew full pay, and was only caught when his employer tried to reward him for 20 years of service

What if you could stay at home for six years, receive your full salary, and no one at work even noticed you were gone? That’s exactly what happened to Joaquin Garcia, a Spanish civil servant, whose case only came to light in 2010 – on the day his employer planned to honour him for 20 years of service.

 

Garcia had been working since 1990 as a plant supervisor at a municipal water company in Cadiz, Spain. But according to the BBC, a serious bureaucratic blunder let him fall through the cracks. Two departments mistakenly believed the other was monitoring him, which allowed Garcia to skip work completely, while still earning his full annual salary of $41,500 (approximately Rs 36 lakh).

 

 

The situation remained unnoticed for years until Jorge Blas Fernandez, Cadiz’s deputy mayor from 1995 to 2015, decided to present Garcia with a commemorative plaque for his 20 years of service. That’s when the truth unravelled.

 

“We thought the water company was supervising him, but that wasn’t the case. We only discovered it when we were about to present him with a commemorative plaque for 20 years of service,” Blas told The Guardian.

 

Blas then attempted to locate Garcia but was met with a startling discovery that no one had seen him at the office in years. “I asked myself if he was still working there, if he had retired, or if he had died. But his payroll showed he was still getting paid,” he recalled.

 

When questioned about his extended absence, Garcia offered no clear explanation. His lawyer later claimed he had been bullied at work and, fearing he might lose his job, chose to remain silent. According to El Mundo, Garcia’s acquaintances said he spent time reading philosophy instead of performing his duties.

 

In the end, the court did not accept his defence and fined him $30,000 (approximately Rs 25 lakh)—an amount equivalent to one year’s salary after taxes — for his six years of absence.