Angus Council has refused to comment on allegations that another employee has been suspended.
Two employees are already off work on full pay after being suspended from posts in waste services at the Forfar recycling centre.
It is understood a third employee was suspended on Monday but the council is refusing to confirm or deny the allegation.
It is not known why the third employee was suspended and the council is remaining tight-lipped on all personnel matters.
Details of the fresh probe remain a mystery with some councillors unaware of the matter.
It is believed the third employee also worked in waste services and is also suspended on full pay.
The fresh allegation comes after two employees were suspended from their posts in May over claims about discrepancies with their timesheets. The employees are understood to be a waste recycling supervisor and a refuse collector.
As well as the timesheets probe, it is understood the council’s internal investigation has looked at allegations of falsifying holiday records, removing scrap from the site and fuel irregularities.
An employee told The Courier that events are upsetting everyone in waste services.
Refusing to give his name for fear of reprisals, the worker said nobody knows exactly what has happened with the latest development.’Hush-hush’He said: “A third member of staff was suspended on Monday on full pay. Nobody has been given a reason why and it’s all been kept very hush-hush. It’s all whispers and they are trying to keep everything under wraps.”
He added: “A lot of things that are going on are disgusting. It’s upsetting all the guys. They have all tried to raise issues and they have hit a brick wall.”
The two people who were suspended in May live together in Forfar. The man has a supervisory role in the department and his female partner is a refuse collector, normally employed on dustbin lorries.
Colleagues were interviewed at the time, although it is not known if this latest suspension is in any way connected to the previous two suspensions.
The council will not reveal the circumstances surrounding any of the suspensions or the investigation.
The employee who spoke to The Courier said there was also upset about the two employees suspended since May. That centres, he said, on the fact that they are still on full pay, while employees on long-term sick leave are not.
The Forfar recycling centre at Queenswell Road handles various recyclable materials, bulky items and general waste.
A similar probe has also recently seen five recycling depot staff suspended at Fife Council amid allegations of metals theft.
Five members of Fife staff were suspended pending an investigation into allegations they were rifling through recyclable materials and hiving off lucrative scrap metal, which was then sold.
The Angus investigation is being run internally by the council and there is no police involvement.
The price of metal has rocketed despite the global downturn, with copper and brass among the most highly-valued items.
Popular targets have included drain covers from roads and signalling cable from railways.