Federal worker collected telework paycheck while sitting in jail, exploits position as head of union

A federal employee and labor union leader collected her government paycheck for time worked even though she was sitting in a jail cell on DUI charges, a U.S. senator said Wednesday.

Tracy Jean Vargas, an employee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, has also been charged in federal court with making false statements about the misuse of funds from the union, the American Federation of Government Employees, where she was president of Local 3138.

Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican, said a whistleblower brought the case to her attention. She called it “troubling” and demanded answers from HUD over whether Ms. Vargas “drank and drove on the taxpayer dime.”

She said Ms. Vargas was arrested four times from 2020 through 2022, including three times on DUI charges. In 2020, Ms. Vargas spent time in a jail cell for DUI but never submitted a leave request, according to the whistleblower.

At the time, Ms. Vargas was serving as president of the union local and was being paid by the government for conducting union business, an arrangement known as “official time.”

“It is unacceptable for any employee to be paid on taxpayer-funded union time while sitting in a jail cell,” Ms. Ernst said in her letter to acting HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman.

She cast the incident as part of a broader pattern of abuse of remote-work policies.

“According to this whistleblower, HUD employees are abusing remote work flexibilities to engage in personal activities while also claiming 100 percent of their working time as taxpayer-funded union time. In addition, this whistleblower alleged HUD performs no meaningful verification of funds disbursed pursuant to taxpayer-funded union time before the money is sent out the door,” Ms. Ernst said.

An attorney for Ms. Vargas didn’t respond to an inquiry about the allegations.

HUD declined to comment on Ms. Vargas’ case, calling it a personnel matter. The department did not address Ms. Ernst’s other issues about union officials’ time or how the department verifies employees’ telework hours.

According to the mug shots Ms. Ernst collected, Ms. Vargas was arrested on charges of DUI on Jan. 25, 2020, May 1, 2020, and Feb. 17, 2022. She also had an arrest on April 9, 2020. The charges on the mugshot were listed as “unknown.”

Ms. Vargas spent four days in jail after the first arrest, according to Ms. Ernst’s information from the whistleblower.

“Disturbingly, the whistleblower further alleges Ms. Vargas submitted no leave request, suggesting she may have been paid for taxpayer-funded union time work while she was held at a county jail in Oklahoma,” the senator said.

Her arrest on May 1, a Friday, was at 3:28 p.m. Ms. Ernst said the whistleblower indicated that Ms. Vargas “successfully claimed and received payment” for that day.

Ms. Vargas was fired from HUD in 2023 on accusations of embezzling $20,000 in union funds, the senator said.

That appears to be the basis of the federal criminal case against her.

She faces one count of false statements for wrongly telling the Labor Department that no payments were made to conceal “the conversion of labor union funds by Vargas for her own personal use,” according to criminal information filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Local 3138, which Ms. Vargas served as president, represents HUD employees in Oklahoma. It counted 39 members and had about $21,000 in assets in 2021, according to data found at UnionFact.com, a watchdog website.

A LinkedIn profile for a Tracy Vargas in Oklahoma City lists her as a senior management analyst at HUD and as president of the union chapter from December 2021 to September 2023.

“Extraordinarily compelling and challenging work,” the profile said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to serve both my agency and my union.”

The profile lists Ms. Vargas as having earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and exercise physiology.

Ms. Ernst and other Republican lawmakers have been challenging the expanding use of telework since the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Government watchdogs have found that some department headquarters buildings in the Washington area are largely empty as employees take advantage of generous telework policies.

Ms. Ernst previously revealed one case in which a manager at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Atlanta posted a photo to social media bragging about logging in to a work meeting from a bubble bath.