Some Canada Revenue Agency workers have been spending far too much time browsing the Internet and sending offensive e-mails - and not enough time collecting taxes.
Internal reports show an average of 85 employees a year are disciplined for wasting their work days surfing the web, setting up sports pools, sending chain letters, promoting "illegal substances," sharing offensive cartoons and running pyramid schemes.
"(One) employee browsed the Internet an average of three hours and 32 minutes per day," says one investigation report from last July, or about half the shift. "He installed four unauthorized software (programs) on his workstation."
Managers at the Canada Revenue Agency were lenient in their undisclosed discipline of the employee because of his "good performance" - even though it was a second offence, says the report. A year earlier, the same worker had been caught browsing the Internet an average of two hours and 25 minutes each day.
Another employee - found to be web-surfing an average of 83 minutes a day - was also given lenient treatment in view of his "remorsefulness."
Last August, investigators recorded more than 84 hours of personal Internet cruising over 58 work days for one worker, or almost 90 minutes a day.
The reports also show hundreds of "unacceptable" e-mails in workers' accounts, though the precise content is never described. However, many are referred to as pertaining to "union business."
These and other records outlining forbidden cyber-behaviour at the Canada Revenue Agency were obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. Information about disciplinary measures was censored in the documents, which also do not disclose names or locations.
Misuse of the Internet and e-mail systems is by far the most common problem cited by the agency's internal affairs and fraud prevention division.
Employees are permitted some personal use of the Internet systems under certain restrictions, one of which is time on the web be limited to personal breaks and lunch time.
A spokesman for the Canada Revenue Agency said officials are currently reviewing the policy "to determine the consequences if there were some modifications as to what might be acceptable."
"The agency does not believe that the number of incidents ... is any larger than it would be for other organizations of similar size with a similar approach on the use of their systems, nor would the agency consider the problem as chronic," said Noel Carisse, noting Revenue Canada has more than 40,000 employees.
"From time to time, there is a spike in the number of ... incidents because in certain cases where there has been a misuse discovered, the investigation reveals a pocket of other employees in the same office who participated in the activity, for example, a hockey pool or an offensive cartoon."
Carisse said the activities do not place confidential taxpayer information at risk, and the number of confirmed cases has been in decline, from 102 in 2004-2005 to 66 in 2008-2009. An internal report, however, shows there were 80 new cases uncovered as of October in the last fiscal year.
The Canadian Press reported last week that agency employees have also been caught reading confidential tax files of ex-spouses, family members, creditors and others without authorization.
Officials uncovered an average of 29 of these more serious cases each year - including one instance in which a female employee downloaded 37,500 e-mails and 776 documents onto personal CDs.
The investigation into that case continues and the agency has refused to provide details.
News reports have previously cited instances in which CRA workers leaked confidential information to a British Columbia gang and to a website that allegedly exposed details of the private tax affairs of former sports celebrities such as Liberal MP Ken Dryden.
The Canadian Press