New York

TexasTowelie

(112,403 posts) Mon Jul 23, 2018, 04:27 AM Jul 2018

Calls for D.A. to probe Long Beach payouts

More than 80 residents and elected officials gathered in front of City Hall on July 3 to call on Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas to investigate recent separation payouts to former City Manager Jack Schnirman and other current and former em-ployees who they claim were overpaid.

County Legislator Denise Ford (R-Long Beach), State Assemblywoman Melissa Miller (R-Atlantic Beach) and others questioned whether an audit of the city’s finances announced by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office in May included a review of the payouts. Residents, they said, have received little, if any, information.

“D.A. Singas confirmed that an audit was going on, yet this was denied by the comptroller’s office,” Ford told the crowd. “It makes you wonder, what are they hiding and why aren’t they communicating? We deserve answers, and truthful ones at that.”

In April, City Council members John Bendo and Anissa Moore voted against a $2.1 million bond measure to make up for separation payouts to 62 union and non-union employees in fiscal year 2017-18 when they learned that a number of them remained employed by the city. Bendo and Moore questioned whether some non-union employees in particular — including Schnirman, who left in January with $108,000 — should have received the payments they did.

Read more: http://liherald.com/stories/calls-for-da-to-probe-long-beach-payouts,105116

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Calls for D.A. to probe Long Beach payouts (Original Post) TexasTowelie Jul 2018 OP

Schnirman, a Democrat, was elected Nassau County Comptroller last November... Princess Turandot Jul 2018 #1

Princess Turandot

(4,787 posts)

1. Schnirman, a Democrat, was elected Nassau County Comptroller last November...

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Jul 23, 2018, 05:20 AM

Jul 2018

His accusers are Republicans. This apparently relates to the payout of unused sick leave hours from his prior office. It doesn't seem very likely that he ordered the payroll/personnel department to treat him differently than other separating employees. It's possible, of course, that they historically, and consistently, handled these payments in a way that appears to vary from their written policies, but that's not down to him.

“My leave pay was calculated the same way as all other management employees — no more, no less,” Schnirman wrote in an op-ed in the Herald in May. “I reported my time off to the payroll staff as I took it, like all employees, and I played no role in calculating my own leave pay. It was based on a legal interpretation made years prior and applied evenly for many years. While my understanding is that all payments were calculated properly, if a review shows the city made any error in my payment, I would immediately return any overage.”

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