The Transport Security Administration announced that they will likely fire 25 employees and suspend 19 at Newark airport.
ABC News reported that the TSA announced that it has proposed this due to alleged misconduct. A TSA agent said to ABC News that it was because of "individuals violating standard operating procedures for screening checked bags at one of the airport's 25 baggage screening rooms."
ABC News reported that another TSA source said that these incidences include things such as sleeping while at work and failure to do random screenings.
TSA said in a statement according to ABC News, "has a zero tolerance for misconduct in the workplace" and they "takes prompt and appropriate action with any employee who does not follow our procedures and engages in misconduct."
ABC News also reported that the 382 TSA officers have been fired since the formation of the TSA ten years ago, for stealing from passengers. ABC News reported that one TSA agent, Pythias Brown, said he stole $800,000 worth of merchandise and cash from travelers. He said to ABC news,
"It was very commonplace, very. It was very convenient to steal... [TSA agents] didn't think it was okay, but they did it and said, 'I don't care. They ain't paying me. They're treating me wrong.' But when people started seeing they could profit off of it, then it became massive." Brown was also a former employee at Newark.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
