In an audit by the Justice Department, it was discovered that U.S. taxpayers were billed an average of $45,000  in overtime and extra pay for each FBI agent posted to Iraq between 2003 and 2007.

Dealing with sniper fire and mortar blast might make those amounts seem seriously low-balled, but the Justice Department’s audit found over $7.8 million of those wages were improperly billed.

Several agents noted they’d spent time during the week washing clothes — and they included those hours in their overtime requests. When asked whether agents should be paid for such activities, one agent said, “When you’re in that environment, anything you do to survive is work for the FBI.”

Other agents claimed they should be paid for important “liaison” meetings — which turned out to be regular Saturday night cocktail parties. In another case, dozens of agents claimed they were preparing evidence for Saddam Hussein’s court trial when they were taking part in a massive poker tournament.

The report also noted some misused overtime and extra pay allowances in Afghanistan and with agents in the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Marshals Service, but those cases were far less severe.

In this recent case, a bank teller failed two polygraph tests administered by the local police and FBI after an attempted robbery of the branch. Managers at the bank learned the employee had failed the exams, although no further specifics were given by the police. Shortly after, the employee was let go.

Days later, he sued the bank, claiming his rights under the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) were violated. A court agreed, noting although the bank couldn’t be sued for “passive acceptance” of the lie detector results — i.e., knowing the results of the exam — it could be prosecuted for improperly using those results.

Even if the test results weren’t the sole reason the employee was terminated, all he needed to do was show the bank “used” or “referred to” the polygraphs to sue under the EPPA.

Cite: Worden v. Sun Trust Banks, U.S. Crt. of Appeals, No. 07-1354.

Police in Vineland, NJ, have arrested Daniel Tyce for posing as a female veterinarian. Tyce, who worked under the name of “Dr. Danielle Smith,” ran a business called South Jersey Small Animal Rescue which inoculated animals and set up homeless animals with people looking to adopt.

His Web site claims that Danielle Smith was a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania and possesses a doctorate in veterinary medicine. (Tyce has no such degrees.)

Along with his assistant, Tyce would drive around in his Jeep Cherokee with “Animal Cruelty Investigations” written on its side. The two also wore police-style uniforms with mock badges that led numerous residents to believe they were properly certified animal control officers.

Police began investigating the company after a resident informed them of suspicious activity by the group, which operated primarily out of Tyce’s apartment.

Although he’s been charged with unlicensed practice of medicine, Tyce may also face a charge of theft by deception because he solicited and accepted donations, claiming his agency was a non-profit.

You have to hand it to Benedict Harkins: When he tried to commit insurance fraud against the Farm Fresh Market in Jamestown, NY, he took a few minutes setting things up to help corroborate his story. After arranging a rug in the market to look like he’d tripped over it, Harkins laid down and clutched his back in agony.

He was taken to a hospital and treated for his faked back injury. He then submitted the bill — as well as an $860 bill for ambulance service — to the market’s insurer, and declared his intent to sue the company for his injury.

However, a quick review of the market’s video surveillance system revealed Harkins had spent several minutes making sure the rug he “tripped” over looked just right before laying next to it.

Harkin withdrew his claim to the insurance agency, and faces up to one year in prison.

As pink slips become more common, so is the urge to steal corporate secrets on the way out. According to the Cyber-Ark Software survey, “The Global Recession and its Effects on Work Ethics,” a full 71% of polled office workers said they’d definitely steal corporate data if faced with immediate firing.

In fact, 58% of those polled in the U.S. have already downloaded sensitive data — whether it’s to trade for a new job at a competing organization or just out of spite.

The survey says customer and contact databases, product information, company plans, proposals, and company passwords are the most plundered material. While USB memory sticks are the smallest, cheapest and least traceable way to download the data, respondents said they’d use encrypted storage Web sites, DVDs, smart phones and even iPods to copy sensitive materials.

Doris Sexton, former employee at the Cumberland Manor Nursing Home, claims that a co-worker’s rampant perfume sprays left her permanently disabled and unable to work. Sexton said the incident that deteriorated her health so dramatically was when the co-worker sprayed perfume near her three separate times in a single day.

Sexton already had a chronic lung condition before working at the New Jersey nursing home. The worker that sprayed perfume near her reportedly exacerbated her condition.

A lower court rules Sexton’s reaction to the perfume didn’t arise out of her employment. Sexton had been a pack-a-day smoker for 43 years prior to the perfume incident, the court noted, and that was likely the cause of her disability.

But an appeals panel found in favor of Sexton, because the exposure to the perfume happened while at work. “The air Sexton had to breathe in order to fulfill her contract of service, contaminated by a co-employee, was a condition of the employment for Sexton and thus a risk of this employment for her,” the court said in its ruling.

The case now goes back to a lower court to determine whether Sexton is indeed eligible for worker’s compensation.

According to France’s Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the average American took only 4.5 sick days off per year. The average European took off 11.3 sick days.

But for government workers at Belgium’s health ministry, that’s child’s play. Government departments averaged 35 days of paid sick leave per employee per year.

Dr. Dick Cuypers, top official of the ministry, has resorted to random, at-home audits of any government employees who call out sick. While some were indeed stricken with illness, investigators found some frequent abusers, including:

• A man who took sick days to work at a black-market job
• An employee who called out with a back injury was preparing for a morning run, and
• Another man answered his door with an undone belt as a prostitute fled his house.

Blatant abusers of the sick time program aren’t the only problem, though. Half of all Belgians on medical leave suffer from depression. Because the country has the highest suicide rate in Western Europe, government workers are pampered with additional time off to combat depression-related problems.

In addition to time off, people are encouraged to spend their sick time enjoying leisurely activities, visiting family and friends, vacationing, etc. — all while picking up at least 80% of their government-backed salaries.

Anna Susan Kosak, bookkeeper for Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, NC, was arrested for embezzling $348,975 from the independent bookstore.

As the only person who handled the business’s books, Kosak was able to write and cash checks she’d written to herself without anyone checking her work.

General manager Sarah Goddin said the missing funds were undetected because Kosak had kept the check amounts small, and had been stealing for a long period of time. When asked why Kosak would steal, Goddin mentioned that the bookkeeper had undergone gastric bypass surgery the previous year, which typically runs between $25,000 and $35,000.

Despite the suffering economy, Goddin insists the bookstore’s sales remained flat for the year. But thanks to the embezzlement charge, the owners will be more financially watchful than ever.

After George Bates found the service he received from an Abbey National customer service operator lacking, he gave the employee a low rating during a post-call satisfaction survey.

But after the carpenter visited a brick-and-mortar branch of the bank, he found that he was unable to access his account because of “security reasons.” Some investigation by Bates and the bank’s employees found that the call center worker had changed Bates’ identity to that of a Ugandan divorcee.

Debits going into Bates’ account had also been cancelled, causing $100 in various bank charges.

Eventually, Bates’ account was straightened out and the charges were removed. An investigation into the incident was launched, but Abbey call center supervisors could not say whether any disciplinary action had been taken against the employee.

Have any call center horror stories? Share them in the comments section below.

Suraj Samaroo recently pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $400,000 from an IKEA call center in Baltimore County, MD. In less than a year at his job, Samaroo learned how to manipulate the company’s phone and mail order system to make a tidy profit.

According to prosecutors’ records, Samaroo would issue himself refunds for purchases made by customers and then alter inventory records to cover his tracks. He gave the money to friends and family, and bought himself a new car, motorcycle and crystal pieces — but notably, no furniture.

Samaroo faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, but because he admitted his actions were motivated by “pure greed,” his lawyers are pleading for a 10-year sentence followed by five years’ probation.