'Italy's worst employee': Teacher fired finally for skipping work for 20 years

A teacher who avoided going to work for over 20 years using sick leaves, holidays and permits to attend other businesses has finally been sacked by her employers. Described as Italy's worst-ever employee, Cinzia Paolina De Lio managed to collect pay cheques for the better part of the last two decades while remaining absent at work.

56-year-old Cinzia was employed at a secondary school near Venice to teach literature and philosophy. However, she only showed up for four out of the 24 years she worked there to teach the students.

The disgraced teacher was finally sacked on June 22, according to Daily Mail. Italy's highestcourt confirmed her ouster by stating her absences showed a "permanent and absolute ineptitude".

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On the rare occasion that Cinzia did turn up to work, she ignored the students, made up lessons on the spot and borrowed textbooks as she couldn't be bothered to bring them. Reportedly, students went on strike one time afterCinzia handed out marks that had no connection to the work handed in. She remained distracted while conducting oral exams and sent text messages instead.

After being sacked by the school,Cinzia said she will tell her side of the story. However, in what can be only called an irony, she refused to entertain thejournalists asking questions, saying she was at the 'beach'.

"Sorry, but right now I'm at the beach," she toldRepubblica newspaper, adding that she had documents to prove her side of the story.

"I will reconstruct the truth of the facts of this absolutely unique and surreal story. I don't answer questions from journalists thrown around that wouldn't do justice to the truth of my story."

Other instances of prolonged absenteeism

Notably, Cinzia is not the first suchemployee to have emerged from the European nation. In 2021, an individual namedSalvatore Scumace, a hospital worker was accused of taking home more than $648,000 in pay, despite having never turned up for work in 15 years.

66-year-oldScumace was assigned to work in the fire emergency operations of the Pugliese Ciaccio hospital, in the city of Catanzaro, Calabria. However, apart from turning up on the first day to sign the documents of his employment, he never showed up and quietly cashed in the cheques.

When a manager caught a whiff of Scumace's elaborate scam, he resorted to threatening them and their family.

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In 2016, the Italian government, taking view of the increased frequency of such cases, tightened thelaws against the 'workshy'. According to a report in The Guardian, in one of the cases, the Italian policeused secret surveillance cameras to ensnare 35 workers at Sanremo’s town hall who had been cheating the time management system for at least two years.

(With inputs from agencies)

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