Perhaps, Sam, you could share with us your insight about this case. I don't have your background or any background in investigating fraud and abuse but it would be interesting to hear an assessment from a person with your experience. John
BaltACD Sam1 oltmannd Read the latest Trains article about Conrail and the issue of reported vs. actual on duty time and the crew's rationale for doing what they did. Then read about the LIRR retired/disability/Railroad Retirement scandal. This is nothing new. It's been part of the RR culture in the northeast for a long time. That's not to say it shouldn't be fixed. Ron Batory fixed it on Conrail. Amtrak can fix it, too. You don't need more managers to fix it. Just managers who manage. Management can implement a zero tolerance policy for fraud and unethical conduct. It can implement preventive and detective controls to help prevent fraud and detect it when it occurs. But they will not prevent all fraud. There are some bad guys and gals, mostly guys, who figure out how to beat the system. And some of them, based on my experience, beat it for a long time. Fraud prevention, detection, and investigation was one of my management roles for a Fortune 250 corporation for more than 25 years. Catching the bad guys is more challenging than most people realize. Fraud is not just a 'worker' thing - in many cases it is management that 'cooks the books' to channel funds into their own pocket.
Sam1 oltmannd Read the latest Trains article about Conrail and the issue of reported vs. actual on duty time and the crew's rationale for doing what they did. Then read about the LIRR retired/disability/Railroad Retirement scandal. This is nothing new. It's been part of the RR culture in the northeast for a long time. That's not to say it shouldn't be fixed. Ron Batory fixed it on Conrail. Amtrak can fix it, too. You don't need more managers to fix it. Just managers who manage. Management can implement a zero tolerance policy for fraud and unethical conduct. It can implement preventive and detective controls to help prevent fraud and detect it when it occurs. But they will not prevent all fraud. There are some bad guys and gals, mostly guys, who figure out how to beat the system. And some of them, based on my experience, beat it for a long time. Fraud prevention, detection, and investigation was one of my management roles for a Fortune 250 corporation for more than 25 years. Catching the bad guys is more challenging than most people realize.
oltmannd Read the latest Trains article about Conrail and the issue of reported vs. actual on duty time and the crew's rationale for doing what they did. Then read about the LIRR retired/disability/Railroad Retirement scandal. This is nothing new. It's been part of the RR culture in the northeast for a long time. That's not to say it shouldn't be fixed. Ron Batory fixed it on Conrail. Amtrak can fix it, too. You don't need more managers to fix it. Just managers who manage.
Read the latest Trains article about Conrail and the issue of reported vs. actual on duty time and the crew's rationale for doing what they did. Then read about the LIRR retired/disability/Railroad Retirement scandal.
This is nothing new. It's been part of the RR culture in the northeast for a long time. That's not to say it shouldn't be fixed.
Ron Batory fixed it on Conrail. Amtrak can fix it, too.
You don't need more managers to fix it. Just managers who manage.
Management can implement a zero tolerance policy for fraud and unethical conduct. It can implement preventive and detective controls to help prevent fraud and detect it when it occurs. But they will not prevent all fraud.
There are some bad guys and gals, mostly guys, who figure out how to beat the system. And some of them, based on my experience, beat it for a long time. Fraud prevention, detection, and investigation was one of my management roles for a Fortune 250 corporation for more than 25 years. Catching the bad guys is more challenging than most people realize.
Fraud is not just a 'worker' thing - in many cases it is management that 'cooks the books' to channel funds into their own pocket.
Spot on! Over my career I supervised 85 fraud investigations. The three largest frauds ($3.8, $1.3, and $1.1 million) were pulled off by company officers or a commodities trader. Many of the employee frauds were petty, although one "highly trusted" employee got us for half a million. She pulled it off over 12 years.
Fraud is more widespread than most people realize. It costs Americans billions of dollars each year.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Sam1Catching the bad guys is more challenging than most people realize.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
You're right on target, Don. Amtrak can and should fix this problem now. And it should be published within Amtrak. It is really sad that people who have a public trust should do this.
Maybe this explains oltmannd's report: http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/743/t/209793.aspx
They need more management to oversee the employees. Of course they'll then need more upper level managers to keep an eye on these new managers. The money to pay all these managers can come from cutting back on the number of workers, which will reduce the number of employees that could potentially abuse the overtime claims, so it all works out.
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
http://www.amtrakoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/final_investigative_summary_overtime_fraud_report_no__oig-i-2012-018.pdf
As information - issued September 5 by Inspector General - overtime fraud.
The report blames inadequate management supervision - but you can read it for yourself.
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