Enzi, Burr criticize IRS for rehiring employees with history of misconduct

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After a report concluding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rehired former employees that had been fired, U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Senator Richard Burr, R-N.C., called on Congress to restrict the federal agency from rehiring personnel without considering their misconduct.

In July, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration published an audit report that showed the IRS rehired more than 200 former employees between January 2015 and March 2016 that it had previously terminated or suspended while the agency conducted investigations for substantiated conduct or performance issues.

In response to the report, Enzi and Burr want Congress to renew restrictions on IRS funding, which would require the IRS to take into account the conduct and federal tax compliance of an employee before they are rehired. Enzi and Burr recommend that the current restrictions be extended through September 30, 2018.

The senators said common sense would suggest that an employee who was fired for misconduct or poor performance shouldn’t be hired back, but the IRS’s behavior defies logic. The IRS continues to confuse the stick with the carrot, rewarding their employees’ bad behavior with favorable outcomes, something the senators hope to change.

Burr has also introduced legislation, cosponsored by Enzi and others, that would strictly prohibit the IRS from rehiring an employee that has been fired for certain forms of misconduct.