Man With No Work Articles

The Man With No Work

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/26/eveningnews/main560528.shtml

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WASHINGTON, June 27, 2003

The Man With No Work

NIH Researcher Makes Big Bucks But Isn't Given Anything To Do

By Dan Collins

(CBS) "There's nothing to do. There's nothing to pretend to do," laments Dr. Edward McSweegan. McSweegan once managed a large portfolio of research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but his work days have been pretty much empty since March 1996. It's not that he doesn't want to work. He says they won't let him. Meantime, taxpayers are covering his generous paycheck, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

McSweegan, who earns about $100,000 a year, believes he's being punished for using his personal time to discredit a charity that had influence over his bosses at NIH. Back in 1995, McSweegan and other scientists felt the charity was putting out unscientific and incorrect information about Lyme Disease, and he used his personal time to discredit the charity. In 1997, the NIH suspended McSweegan for two weeks, partly because he had referred to the charity as "whacko" on his personal Web site.

But documents show that NIH's own lawyers agreed there were no grounds to fire him. The charity later sued McSweegan for slander, but lost. McSweegan won his counter-suit against them. Before the feud, McSweegan received the highest rating possible in his annual job reviews and was awarded annual cash bonuses for his good job performance. His personnel file is full of commendation letters from his bosses. Even after the feud--including his most recent job review--McSweegan's bosses have continued to give him good job performance scores.

CBS News wanted to talk to McSweegan's bosses, but NIH denied a request. A spokesman did say that allegations that some employees don't have enough work to do are "to be expected" in any giant agency. NIH employs 18,000 people. The spokesman also suggested that the same might be true at CBS. This correspondent pointed out that taxpayers don't pay CBS salaries.

So what does McSweegan do all day?

"I've managed to publish a couple of books, some short story fiction, a little bit of non-fiction writing," he said.

Yes, with all that free time, and with taxpayers footing the bill, he's become a successful mystery writer. And more: "I wound up joining a health club near the office, just to sort of to break up the day," he said

Oddly enough, McSweegan has been getting good job reviews.

"I guess I'm good at doing nothing," he said.

On July 1, NIH issued the following statement: "Dr. McSweegan has always been assigned duties appropriate to his position and pay level. The claim that he is being compensated for doing nothing is completely inaccurate."

CBS News showed McSweegan's interview to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, whose Finance Committee played a role in doubling NIH's budget over the last five years to a whopping $27 billion.

And now Grassley wants action. He has fired off a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson demanding that McSweegan be put back to work.

After making it clear that the CBS News investigation raised questions about NIH's use of taxpayer money, Grassley said: "Dr. McSweegan wants to work - I expect HHS/NIH to find him appropriate work that makes good use of his experience and talents."

His letter included this rebuke: "The fault for this lies in great part with NIH management. I request that NIH take immediate steps to ensure that all NIH employees are fully employed and are helping to achieve the goals of the organization. To come rattling a tin cup asking for more money when the NIH is paying for full-time novelists has got to stop."

Some might call Edward McSweegan lucky. But McSweegan said he just wants to expose the kind of waste that gives federal bureaucracy a bad name. Even if -- after all these years of doing nothing -- he gets fired for telling about it.

Talking about this in public is sort of like playing Russian roulette, McSweegan said. "You pull the trigger and see what happens."

He might title his own incredible story "Under Worked and Overpaid." For now, he's waiting for someone else to write the last chapter.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/26/eveningnews/main560528.shtml

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NIH Scientist Says He's Paid To Do Nothing

Agency Denies Administrator's 'Surreal Situation' of Collecting $100,000 Salary for No Work

By Tania Branigan

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, July 4, 2003; Page A21

Every weekday at 6.30 a.m., Edward McSweegan climbs into his Volkswagen Passat for the hour-long commute to the National Institutes of Health. He has an office in Bethesda, a job title -- health scientist administrator -- and an annual salary of about $100,000.

What McSweegan says he does not have -- and has not had for the last seven years -- is any real work. He was hired by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1988, but says his bosses transferred the research grants he administered to other workers eight years later, leaving him with occasional tasks more suitable for a typist or "gofer."

NIH officials denied the allegations earlier this week, but said they would reexamine the issue after Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) raised the issue in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.

Grassley, who as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has supported budget increases for the NIH, learned of McSweegan's case when CBS News contacted him for a story on the scientist. In the report that aired on "CBS Evening News" on June 26, McSweegan said he had been paid to do nothing for the past seven years.

McSweegan used to be NIH's program officer for Lyme disease but was removed from the post in June 1995 after a dispute over his repeated criticism of a politically influential support group for sufferers and his allegations that NIH had been too accommodating of the group. He had publicly described the Lyme Disease Foundation as "wacko" because he disagreed with its theories about the disease. The dispute led to his suspension without pay for two weeks for insubordination and conduct unbecoming of a federal employee.

In spring 1996, his responsibilities for an unrelated program were also removed. He maintains they have never been replaced.

In an interview Monday, Grassley accused NIH of "an absolute management vacuum" and said it is "ludicrous" that the administrator is being paid to do nothing.

"We want to make sure we get the most bang for our buck, the most research for our dollars," the senator added.

John Burklow, a spokesman for NIH, said McSweegan has always been assigned duties appropriate to his position and pay level.

"The claim that he is being compensated for doing nothing is completely inaccurate," Burklow said.

According to NIH, McSweegan is director of the U.S.-Indo Vaccine Action Program, and has traveled to countries such as Russia representing the agency. He has also "produced reports and other work products."

But McSweegan said he has never been told he was director of the program and knew of no such title. Three other people ran the project, and his work for it -- such as arranging coffee for lunches and forwarding messages -- was "the kind of work you would get an intern to do."

He added that the Office of Global Health Affairs had organized and paid for his trip to Russia, and that his only reports had been brief accounts of meetings.

McSweegan said he struggles to fill his eight-hour workdays by reading, exercising and writing fiction. He has self-published a bioterrorism thriller and a science fiction novel, and is working on a third book.

But he says his six-page job description is the ultimate work of creative writing and describes his position as "a bizarre, surreal situation -- part Orwell, part Kafka and part Dilbert."

"It's not my idea," said McSweegan, 47. "I have pointed it out repeatedly over the years. I suppose they are just waiting for me to get bored and frustrated and quit. But I haven't been inclined to do that, because my wife has a real job and we have compelling family reasons for staying in the area.

"I just expect to do this for maybe four more years until my wife retires," he said. "It would be nice to get a real job doing real work."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6791-2003Jul3

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US News and World Report

How to Work Like Edward McSweegan

Edward McSweegan is getting some attention, although it's been five years since he admitted publicly that he was paid $100,000 a year to do nothing at all while working at the National Institutes of Health. For the new wave of publicity, McSweegan can thank the hot-button issue of executive compensation and former Washington Mutual CEO Alan Fishman, who worked 18 days before the bank was taken over and netted millions for his toil. Everyone seems to want to know how people can get away with doing as little as possible and being paid as handsomely as possible.

For tips on that, see my interview with Stanley Bing, who advocates retiring while still working. You too can get paid to do less. (Most of us are, however, willing to work even harder to hang on to our jobs in the current market.)

Here's the transcript (courtesy of Factiva) from McSweegan's appearance on CBS'sOsgood File in 2003:

CHARLES OSGOOD reporting:

THE OSGOOD FILE. Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio network.

Edward McSweegan, works at the National Institutes of Health. Well, perhaps work is too strong a word for what he does. Although his title is microbiologist, he actually doesn't do any microbiology or anything else for that matter.

Mr. EDWARD McSWEEGAN: There's nothing to do. There's nothing to pretend to do.

OSGOOD: He used to manage several research projects, but he was relieved of that responsibility some time ago.

Mr. McSWEEGAN: March 1996.

OSGOOD: And he hasn't been given anything else to do since. Pays good, though, he tells Sharyl Atkisson.

Ms. SHARYL ATKISSON: How much do you get paid to do nothing?

Mr. McSWEEGAN: About a 100,000 a year.

OSGOOD: The amazing story after this.

(Announcements)

OSGOOD: Edward McSweegan must have done something that got one of his bosses or one of his boss' bosses upset—he's not quite sure which one or what it was—but instead of firing him, they simply haven't given him anything to do for seven years now.

Ms. ATKISSON: So what do you do all day when you go to the office?

Mr. McSWEEGAN: I've managed to publish a couple of books, some short-story fiction, a little bit of nonfiction writing.

OSGOOD: In fact, McSweegan has become quite a successful mystery writer. He also takes time off from not working.

Mr. McSWEEGAN: I wound up joining a health club near the office just sort of to break up the day.

OSGOOD: His NIH superiors have been giving him good job reviews.

Mr. McSWEEGAN: I guess I'm good at doing nothing.

Ms. ATKISSON: If I asked your boss what it is you do, what do you think she would say?

Mr. McSWEEGAN: I don't know but I'd love to hear the answer.

OSGOOD: Atkisson tried to talk to McSweegan's boss, but NIH declined. Maybe they'll fire him now for telling about it.

Mr. McSWEEGAN: Talking about this in public is sort of like playing Russian roulette. You pull the trigger and see what happens.

Ms. ATKISSON: What do you hope will happen?

Mr. McSWEEGAN: I don't even know what to hope.

OSGOOD: Incidentally, the NIH budget is $27 billion a year.

THE OSGOOD FILE. I'll see you on the television come Sunday morning on CBS. This is Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio network.

http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-inside-job/2008/10/01/how-to-work-like-edward-mcsweegan

Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_McSweegan

NIH Scientist Says He's Paid To Do Nothing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6791-2003Jul3