Employees on paid leave during probes ‘earn’ over $120K
Two employees of the Delaware County sheriff ’s office have been on paid administrative leave for a combined two years while under internal investigation, costing taxpayers a total of more than $120,000 while they do no work.
The cases of patrol Lt. Chris Burden and Justin Wildman, a corrections officer, illustrate how justice can be slowed by the safety net of union representation and generous collective bargaining agreements.
The safeguards are valued by public employees who violate rules or break laws. But they can be inefficient, costly and demoralizing for government officials and taxpayers.
Wildman, who works at the Delaware County Jail, was placed on paid leave in January 2019 while being investigated for engaging in “inappropriate, possible felonious conduct with a previous inmate of the Delaware County Jail,” according to a letter of notice he received from Sheriff Russell Martin.
Martin told Wildman “your continued presence at the Delaware County Jail may disrupt operations” and he was ordered to stay home.
But in July, Martin told Wildman his case was not referred to a grand jury and would be closed by county prosecutors.
That decision kick-started an internal investigation, during which Wildman remained on leave, earning $24 per hour plus full benefits while not working.
About two months after Wildman’s internal investigation began, Martin notified Burden in an unrelated case that he was being placed on leave for “activities inconsistent with your need for sick leave and inability to perform your job duties.”
Commonly known as “double dipping,” the offense is serious but was not referred for criminal prosecution.
Burden’s wife owns Burden’s Lawn Care and he is accused of doing contract landscaping work for Orange Township and other clients when he was supposed to be home filing for sick leave. Burden’s lieutenant wage is $43 per hour.
Burden was recovering from knee surgery, said his labor attorney, Joe Hegedus, with the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.
He said Burden asked for light duty during the investigation but was denied.
Hegedus said the case is complicated by details of what you can and can’t do while on sick leave.
He said typical investigations don’t exceed 90 days and that union contracts state they should conclude within 60 days.
“It’s inexplicable to me ... that some of these (investigations) take so long,” said Hegedus.
Wildman’s union representative did not return calls from The Dispatch for comment.
While delays can happen, especially during a health emergency, they typically aren’t this long, said Jay
McDonald, past president of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police.
“Sometimes it takes 3-4 months just to select and schedule an arbitrator,” McDonald said. “We’ve waited another six months for a decision. You can see where it adds up.”
Watching a coworker get paid to stay home for problems he or she may have caused can hurt morale, or be a deterrent to good behavior, McDonald said.
“I wouldn’t want to sit at home on my hands if I did something wrong, knowing that others are thinking, ‘Sit home for a year and get paid ... hey, this is not a bad gig,’” he said.
Martin, who preaches strong leadership while holding his employees to high standards, said cases like these cause him to lose sleep.
“When you care enough about the profession and office as I do ... it is very frustrating and discouraging,” Martin said. “Because I sit in the sheriff ’s seat, in some ways, the buck stops here.”
Martin wouldn’t comment on case specifics, but said that delays in jail investigations may happen when witnesses are released and move away.
Cases that begin as potential criminal matters and then fail to proceed further must begin anew as internal, administrative cases.
Martin recognizes that the pressure for fairness and efficiency comes from all sides, the accused, government leaders and taxpayers, but that it is largely out of his control.
“Frankly, I think both of these could have been done in 30 days,” Martin said.