Hospital employee skips work for 15 years on full salary

Local media report that the man, who was working at the Ciaccio hospital in the southern city of Catanzaro, stopped working in 2005.

Police has arrested the man and he is now being investigated for fraud, abuse of office and extortion.

The hospital sources have revealed that the man took an approximate salary of €538,000 (£464,000) in total over the years he is thought not to have been working.

The officials are also investigating six managers at the hospital are in connection with the alleged absenteeism of the worker. The managers are said to be his accomplices.

The inquiry came following a lengthy police investigation into absenteeism and suspected fraud in Italy’s public sector.

Police officials reported that the employee was a civil servant, and was given this job of working in the hospital in 2005. It was at this point he stopped going into work.

The police have also accused him of threatening his manager to stop her from filing a disciplinary report against him.