Eight TSA workers at Newark Airport have been suspended from their jobs for a variety of reasons, including failing to screen baggage properly to even falling asleep on the job.
The New York Post reports that a federal probe has been launched to investigate Terminal B at Newark, which handles Delta Airlines flights and some international flights.
An official told the Post: "They did find people sleeping on the job on the midnight crew. A plane goes out at 2 a.m., and there's no activity for a while, so they'll sit down and go to sleep."
Other workers have been probed for stealing and failing to screen bags properly.
NJ.com reports that a veteran screener named Kujuanne McNiel is being let go after an incident on December 22 when he failed to to screen two bags; as a result, two planeloads of luggage had to be unloaded and rescreened, the TSA told the site.
An official with the local union told the site that failures by the TSA workers were likely due to poor training, noting that the previous trainer in charge of Newark's security, Barbara Bonn Powell, was recently dismissed.
In December, it was reported that 12 TSA workers at Charlotte Douglas International botched screenings. The TSA recommended that they be fired.
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