Man skipped work for six years – and was only found out when he was nominated for an award

A man who managed to get away with skipping work for six years was finally caught out after he was ironically nominated for an award for his long service.

Joaquín García from Spain was a building supervisor for a water treatment plant in Cádiz and was employed by the local government for two decades.

But then one day the 69-year-old just stopped showing up to work and still took home his €37,000 annual salary (before tax) - something he was impressively able to keep up for years.

This was thanks to the bureaucratic structure of local government where there was a miscommunication between two departments, with each department assuming the other was overseeing Garcia's work.

It was only when Garcia was nominated for an award for his 20 years of service to the company that his jig was finally up.

"I wondered whether he was still working there, had he retired, had he died? But the payroll showed he was still receiving a salary," deputy mayor Jorge Blas told Spanish newspaper El Mundo, as per The Local.

“I called him up and asked him, ‘What did you do yesterday? The month before, the month before that?’ He didn’t know what to say,” Blas added.

Consequently, Garcia was required to pay a €27,000 fine (equivalent to one year's salary after tax) for his lengthy absence on the job, the BBC reported.

But Garcia denied the allegations and even wrote to the mayor to ask if he had to pay the fine.

He also said was bullied due to his family's politics and found there was no work to do at the water company which he claimed he was sent there to be out of the way.

A cautionary tale for those thinking about skipping work...

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