On most days, Loose Lips finds it challenging to manage one full-time job. Therefore, he admires a D.C. employee who attempted to juggle two full-time jobs and hold an elected office simultaneously, even if the position is in Falls Church.
The D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability didn’t take the situation lightly. Caroline Lian, the deputy director of the D.C. Department of Buildings, will be facing a $25,000 fine as per the terms of the settlement agreement released last week. The agency discovered that she was juggling work as a high-level executive at Freddie Mac and also serving on the Falls Church City Council, while her focus was meant to be on D.C. government business.
It is no secret that many government workers in D.C. take on additional jobs to supplement their salaries. While it is not against the law for them to do so, provided the position is nonpartisan, the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability (BEGA) has accused Lian of crossing a line. According to BEGA, Lian worked her additional jobs during her regular hours as a D.C. employee. The investigation revealed that Lian worked in person at the DOB offices on Mondays and Fridays, while teleworking the rest of the week. Conversely, she worked at Freddie Mac during the inverse schedule.
In order to evade a full hearing on the case, Lian agreed to pay one of the largest ethics fines in the history of the city. This resulted in a five-figure penalty for an employee caught having sex on the job back in May, making it a banner year for BEGA. Lian has agreed to make a lump sum payment of $17,000 and pay the remaining amount in installments. According to the settlement, Lian was receiving an annual income of $175,000 from D.C., $9,200 annually from Falls Church, and a “six-figure salary from Freddie Mac”. Therefore, it can be assumed that cash flow was not an issue for her.
According to a statement from a DOB representative, Lian’s resignation was accepted and is effective immediately. Despite attempts to reach out for comment, Lian has not responded.
According to a spokesperson from the Department of Buildings, the agency is dedicated to fulfilling its mission of serving the residents, businesses, and visitors of D.C. As such, the department will be implementing extra measures to ensure that all employees adhere to the necessary protocols.
Despite being one of the two agencies created out of the controversial split of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, with a focus on building and construction inspections, DOB’s reputation has not been enhanced by recent events. The Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, the other agency created in the split, has also faced its share of issues. According to records provided to the D.C. Council, Lian, as the deputy director of DOB, was one of the highest-paid and senior members of the agency staff, next to Brian Hanlon, the agency head. Even the BEGA settlement acknowledges that Lian received a promotion in October 2023, moving up from chief operations officer to deputy director.
According to the settlement agreement, Lian became a member of the agency just recently in October 2022. However, records from D.C. indicate that she has been working for the city government intermittently since May 2008. In a questionnaire given to the Falls Church News-Press in 2021, she mentioned her previous positions in both the Office of the Chief Technology Officer and D.C. Public Schools. The investigators from BEGA discovered that Lian started her tenure at Freddie Mac in July 2015, working as a “third-party risk management director.”
Although Lian had been with the company for a long time, investigators discovered that she did not disclose her income from that job on financial disclosure forms that she was obligated to file in 2022 and 2023. Moreover, she wrongly reported that she received an amount between $0 and $1,000 from her position in Falls Church. However, she later admitted that this was an error and corrected the form as part of the settlement.
According to BEGA’s findings, Lian had reported working for a full eight hours at DOB on over 10 occasions while attending Falls Church City Council meetings. Although she had disclosed her council service to both DOB and the Executive Office of the Mayor as per the settlement, not taking annual leave for these meetings caused further issues for Lian with BEGA.
Lian’s double-dipping may not have posed a direct conflict of interest with her city responsibilities, which sets her apart from other city employees with side jobs. However, it is concerning that a high-ranking employee at one of the most closely watched agencies in the District could neglect her job for such a significant amount of time. If someone as senior as Lian could get away with working another job for days without giving her full attention to her primary role, it raises questions about what other employees lower on the organizational ladder might be doing.
