Exclusive | Interior Department overpaid workers by up to $400K in taxpayer funds after they wrongly claimed to be in DC, watchdog tells Ernst

The Interior Department overpaid dozens of employees to the tune of up to $400,000 of taxpayer money after the fed workers improperly claimed to be based in the DC area — but were actually scattered all over the US.At least 48 government employees were found to have been “inappropriately” working outside the capital region despite benefiting from higher pay rates meant for employees based in and around Washington, according to a report from the department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) in response to a review requested by Sen.Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).Forty employees assigned to Interior headquarters didn’t report at least twice per pay period in fiscal year 2023 — the bare minimum needed to get locality pay, according to the watchdog report.“As a result,” the OIG report reads, “we estimate DOI paid as much as $401,689 in annualized locality payments that may not have been allowable.”In 2023, employees based in DC and surrounding areas received a 33.94% bump from their base pay due to the cost of living in the capital region.

Only those located in and around Houston (35%), Los Angeles (36.47%), New York City (37.95%) and San Francisco (46.34%) got more generous increases.According to a map provided in the report, some of the workers getting DC-area locality pay had been based in Alabama, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, Oregon and South Carolina — among other places.Interior Department headquarters has been found to be only 14% full on an average working day, according to a Public Buildings Reform Board report from 2024.The Post has reached out to a department spokesperson for comment.Ernst, 54, who helms the Senate DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) Caucus, has been a staunch proponent of cracking down on lax governmental remote work policies and underutilized government office spaces.The Iowan released a report last year that found only 6% of the federal workforce “report in-person on a full-time basis” compared to about a thir...