Two state Environmental Quality department employees have been fired and several others disciplined after an audit found nearly $34,000 was paid for unperformed work hours.
Michigan's auditor general also said in a report Friday that three of the BioWatch Unit workers improperly used state vehicles.
Investigators looked into activities of four employees and said they took extended lunch breaks and left work early. Personal stops also were made at retail stores and other locations while on state time. On occasion, state vehicles were parked overnight at homes.
The workers' tasks included filter collection, maintenance and repair, and inspection of air monitoring instruments.
The unit is based at state offices in Detroit. Michigan's BioWatch monitoring program is part of a nationwide effort to detect and respond to potential air-released bioterrorism events.
