Judge out sick 32 months, gets $482G
HE’S A SITTING judge who hasn’t worked in nearly three years — yet still collects a full-time annual salary of $193,000.
No-show Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Daniel McCullough disappeared with an unspecified illness in April 2014.
“Don’t tell them anything!” McCullough snapped at a friend who tried to put him on the phone this week with a Daily News reporter.
His disabling malady remains shrouded in secrecy — although a source indicated there has been no hint McCullough will ever don his judge’s robes again.
McCullough, 65, has instead reaped the benefits of New York’s unlimited sick time policy for its judges across the last 32 months to the lucrative tune of $482,500.
The judge’s attorney, Roger Adler, said his client will visit a doctor Thursday for a followup on a surgery done this fall.
Adler declined to elaborate on the cause of McCullough’s absences prior to the operation.
“He’s a proud man and he intends to complete the commitment of the appointment that brought him to the bench,” Adler said when asked why McCullough had not stepped down.
“No one I know has ever said to me or to him that he was malingering or that he was not dealing with legitimate issues.”
McCullough has had his courtroom staff and caseload reassigned — yet the ailing justice gets paid like an active judge because he refuses to retire or go on disability.
Sources said he did make a brief return, but fell ill once again.
McCullough’s appointment runs for nine years. He was appointed to the bench by ex-Gov. David Paterson in 2010.
His colleagues are now left to pick up the judicial slack as McCullough collects his full compensation — roughly $50,000-a-year over what he would receive if he retired now.
Courts spokesman Lucian Chalfen said the judge’s future, unlike his income, remained uncertain.
“The judge has been suffering from several serious medical ailments,” said Chalfen. “It is still uncertain when or if he will be able to return to work, depending on his prognosis.”
His colleagues on the bench remain frustrated by the ongoing situation.
Sources indicated McCullough suffered legitimate medical issues, but questioned why he has yet to make the logical call to either retire or apply for disability.
Either choice would lead to a dramatic, if not devastating, cut in income.
The only way McCullough can be removed is if the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct finds that he is abusing the system and should be canned.
Court officials have also sent McCullough periodic letters seeking
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updates on sources said.
The length of his absence is unheard of — even though judges taking sick leave is hardly uncommon. Jurists generally have to retire at age 70.
Paterson, through a spokesperson, declined comment.
McCullough was not home Wednesday at the Corona, Queens, apartment he shares with his wife when visited by the Daily News.
A neighbor, who declined to be identified, said the judge was ill and not at home.
McCullough’s lawyer would only say the judge was in a rehab facility in Nassau County.
The pal said McCullough became bedridden after undergoing a spine-repair surgery and gets around in a wheelchair.
The super at McCullough’s building said he hasn’t seen him around in a while and that the judge was “very sick.”
McCullough’s current salary is $193,000 and according to an estimate on the New York State Controller’s website he could retire now with a pension of about $143,000 based on his years of public service.
McCullough has nearly 43 years of public service, starting his career as an officer for the state Department of Corrections.
McCullough served as a parole officer from 1978 to 1996. He attended St. John’s University Law School, and became an administrative law judge for the New York State Division of Parole.
Paterson had originally appointed him to the Court of Claims, but he was made an acting criminal judge in Supreme Court. The move is a fairly common one in city courts. his condition,