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Census Workers Fired For Counting Imaginary People
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Jun 26, 2010
Modified Jun 29, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Jun 26, 2010
Modified Jun 29, 2010
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Two Census Bureau managers have been fired from their Brooklyn offices after it was revealed that they faked over 10,000 questionnaires in order to meet deadlines. Instead of going door to door to help people fill out their forms, Alvin Aviles and Sonya Merritt got paid up to $25 an hour to search through the internet and phone books and make up answers to thousands of questionnaires.
They also encouraged the rest of the workers to do the same. One worker told the Daily News, "Basically, people were being asked to forge [questionnaires]." The two were turned in by other workers in the office, who are now redoing possibly tainted interviews. Regional director Tony Farthing said, "We're not happy about what happened." Your taxpayer dollars, hard at work!
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Jaya Saxena
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