COVINGTON, Ky. (WKRC) – City leaders in Covington disciplined six Public Works Department employees late in 2024 after an internal investigation found workers were “buddy punching”—clocking in for coworkers who were running late or clocking out for those who left early.
Text messages between Public Works employees showed workers asking each other to clock in when they were late. City leaders learned of the practice late last year and launched an investigation. Six employees, including a manager, received written reprimands. Two of the workers who were initially caught resigned late last year, and the department director was reassigned and is now in another city job.
“And we’ve hit a point where we feel like we fixed the problem. We’ve been able to reprimand those who we were able to determine were involved,” said Covington External Affairs Director Sebastian Torres…