D.C. officials fire and fine ex-public schools' attorney who worked two jobs at the same time
- Senior deputy general counsel for DCPS, pulling in ~$198K, was moonlighting in Maryland during mandated 8-4:30 office hours.
- Fined $20K (paid via unused leave) and fired after The Washington Times exposed her double-dipping in April.
- Claimed outside work was 'telework' on timesheets while teaching in-person psych classes at Montgomery College from 2023-2025.
- Students on RateMyProfessors gave her a 2.7/5, complaining she was disorganized, harsh, and constantly stepping out to take calls—likely her 'real' job.
- Part of a growing trend: DC officials under Mayor Bowser are cracking down on city workers with unreported second jobs.
Brief Summary
Meet Lynette Collins, the D.C. government's resident ethics guru who apparently believed the rules applied to everyone but her. The senior deputy general counsel for labor and employment was clocking in at DCPS headquarters while simultaneously teaching in-person psych classes at Montgomery College—a neat trick that required her to be in two places at once, or more likely, in one place collecting two paychecks. For nearly two years, she dutifully logged her outside income as 'telework' and marked her attendance sheets as if she were chained to her downtown desk, all while commuting to Maryland to lecture students who, in turn, rated her a spectacular 2.7 out of 5 for her disorganized, phone-obsessed teaching style. The gig is up now: she's been fired, fined a paltry $20,000 (paid with her unused vacation time, so essentially free), and is now the poster child for why government ethics boards exist. One can only hope her next career move takes advantage of her expertise—perhaps as a consultant teaching others how not to get caught.
Why This Matters
This story hits close to home for anyone who's ever suspected their tax dollars are funding someone else's vacation. It's not just that Collins was double-dipping; it's that she was the *ethics expert*—the person paid to ensure others followed the rules. If the watchdog is the one stealing the chickens, what does that say about the coop? More importantly, this exposes a systemic issue: if a high-ranking, six-figure government lawyer can game the system for years with impunity, how many lower-level employees are getting away with the same or worse? The $20k fine—paid with accrued leave, so she's essentially forfeiting time off she earned—feels less like punishment and more like a cost of doing business for someone who earned roughly $200K a year from taxpayers. The real sting is that she wasn't even good at her side gig, per student reviews, which means DC was paying premium wages for an ethics expert who was ethically bankrupt on the clock. This should make every citizen, whether in D.C. or elsewhere, wonder just how deep the rot goes in public employment and whether our 'distant' systems are actually just keeping an eye on the exits rather than the workers.