The City of Buffalo will launch a new method for keeping track of its employees on paid leave beginning next week, following revelations about a clerk who was paid nearly $600,000 over 7½ years while on suspension.
Mayor Byron Brown on Tuesday announced the new procedures to prevent suspended city workers from getting paid for years.
Buffalo City Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams said she intends to conduct an investigation, but not a full-blown audit, to determine how an employee on administrative leave for 7½ years managed to be paid nearly $600,000 without triggering a hearing or an investigation.
“I believe the situation involving the one employee was and is an isolated case,” he added. “To make sure it doesn’t happen again, I’ve instituted a number of safeguards going forward. These measures will create both a more efficient and centralized reporting system.”
“Now every department that has an employee on leave on a biweekly basis will get a printout of the employee on leave. The department will have to attest to that employee being on leave. Department of Human Resources will then certify all of those employees that are on leave from the individual departments,” Brown said.
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He directed the city’s Department of Administration and Finance to generate a biweekly report to be distributed to all department heads who have employees on leave.
Additionally, a comprehensive report encompassing all employees on paid administrative leave and other leave categories will be sent to required city departments including the Corporation Counsel, Management and Information Systems, Audit and Control and the Department of Human Resources.
This broader report is designed to provide a more centralized oversight and coordination of workforce data.
“This will, on a biweekly basis, give us a view of employees that are on leave for what reason so that what happened in the one instance with a person on long-time leave never happens again,” Brown said.
Also, Brown announced that the Management and Information Systems Department is in the process of updating its Payroll Software System. The updated software will include enhanced reporting, auditing and notification systems.
Buffalo city lawmakers appear to agree that the city comptroller's office should conduct an audit to determine how an employee on administrative leave for 7½ years managed to be paid nearly $600,000 during that time without triggering a hearing or an investigation.
Department heads will also work to remove employees from paid leave status as soon as possible. The Department of Human Resources will be responsible for certifying departmental leave reports.
“I can’t go back. I can only go forward,” Brown added. “Now with the new policies and procedures that we’ve put in place, we will be aware on a biweekly basis of who is on leave and why they’re on leave.”
In a letter filed this week with the Common Council, Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams presented some findings from her investigation into city employees suspended with pay.
The investigation, which is in the early stages, found:
- On July 6, 12 city employees were identified as suspended with pay.
- As of Sept. 28, seven of the 12 still were suspended with pay, all of whom are members of the Buffalo Police Department. The pay received by the seven accounts for less than 1% of the city’s total payroll this fiscal year, so far. For every 1,000 payroll checks issued by the city, two to three of them are issued to individuals suspended with pay.