Italian ‘king of absentees’ allegedly skipped work for 15 years

A hospital employee in Italy had been skipping work for 15 years until authorities noticed. He was still getting paid his monthly salary - €538,000 - even though he wasn't worrking at all. In an investigation police found out that in 2005 the man supposedly threatened the hospital director in order to keep her from filing a disciplinary report over his absenteeism. She was then retired and he continued his absence at work since it never was checked anyway. Now at the age of 67 he's finally facing charges: abuse of office, forgery and aggravated extortion. Six managers are also being investigated on suspicion of helping him. In my opinion this article only showed how unprofessional the hospital directors were. It took them too much time to acknowledge that they had been paying to someone who wasn't attending work. I'm able to understand the first director because she was threatened and scared to do anything about it, but people having the position after her definitely should've checked if everyone wass really working. The hospital should be managed better because it's a serious institution and having a wrong list of working doctors could cost some people a lot. I hope that the man will repay somehow for what he did because working there is very stressful for doctors and nurses since they are responsible for other lives. His absences could've caused serious issues. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/21/italian-king-of-absentees-allegedly-skipped-work-for-15-years