Firing Brulo would have saved county $4,500

WILKES-BARRE – A loophole within Luzerne County’s personnel policy allowed a juvenile probation official charged with altering a court record to collect more than $4,500 for unused sick and personal time that she would not have been entitled to had she been fired.

The payment to Sandra Brulo was part of a nearly $12,000 buyout she received for unused sick, vacation and personal time following her resignation from the county on Feb. 24 – four days after she was charged by federal authorities.

Brulo was entitled to be reimbursed for unused vacation days, no matter what the circumstances surrounding the end of her employment, according to the county policy. But the policy precludes anyone who is terminated for cause from receiving payment for unused sick or personal days.

That provision did not apply to Brulo, however, because she quit before she could be fired. That allowed her to collect an additional $3,000 in sick leave – the maximum permitted -- and $1,503 for five personal days.

The payment to Brulo has been criticized by county Commissioner Stephen Urban, who questioned why the court system processed Brulo’s request before her criminal case was resolved.

Urban said he’s concerned other employees facing termination for cause might try to use that same loophole and quit before they can be fired, allowing them to collect money to which they otherwise would not be entitled.

In Brulo’s case, she pleaded guilty on March 27 to federal charges of altering a juvenile court record -- an action her attorney said she took to insulate herself from a civil lawsuit.

Payroll records show Brulo had already been paid for her unused vacation, sick and person days by that time. A check for $11,946.28 was issued to her on March 12.

“They put her on the status of leave without pay when she was arrested. Until that status was cleared up, they should have left her in that status and should have taken a termination action once she pleaded guilty,” Urban said.

Urban said Brulo’s case should have been handled the same way that Pittston Area School District processed the resignation of former Superintendent Ross Scarantino, who pleaded guilty last month to accepting kickbacks in exchange for the awarding of contracts.

Scarantino submitted his resignation in May, to be effective Aug. 30. The board refused to accept it, however, because it would have required the district to pay Scarantino for all unused vacation, sick and personal days.

On Monday night, the Pittston Area School Board terminated Scarantino for cause. Scarantino will be paid $22,158 for 125 sick days and 30 vacation days. The district is saving more than $310,000 by entering this agreement with Scarantino.

Paul McGarry, personnel administrator for the county court system, said Brulo’s actions in altering a court record could certainly be grounds for termination, but there is no guarantee that decision would be upheld if she fought the action.

McGarry said he thoroughly reviewed Brulo’s case and determined he had no choice but to act on her request because she was an at-will employee and had the right to quit if she chose to do so.

“We don’t have slavery in this country. If someone wants to resign, they can resign,” McGarry said.

President Judge Chester Muroski, who makes all employment decisions regarding court employees, suspended Brulo without pay immediately after her arrest. He said he did not feel he could terminate her at that time because she had not been found guilty of the charge.

As for postponing acceptance of her resignation, Muroski said that was a non-issue because the court does not officially accept the resignation of any employee who leaves its employment.

“The practice has been when they retire or resign, there is not an official acceptance. They just do it,” Muroski said.

Urban said the judiciary should mirror the county’s policy. County commissioners vote on all personnel actions, including retirements, terminations and leaves of absences of every county employee. Commissioners do not have jurisdiction over court employees, however.

Muroski said he will discuss the situation with other county judges. He said the more pressing issue is for the county to alter its personnel policy to address issues with employees who are charged with crimes related to their positions.

“When I learned of the situation and reviewed the county policy, my immediate question was ‘How come there is nothing in this to cover a situation of someone charged with something?’ ” Muroski said. “I’m not happy about the situation ... (but) the advice that was given me was there was nothing in there to preclude” Brulo from receiving the payments.

McGarry said he agrees the personnel policy needs to be altered, but insisted he acted within the current policy.

“There’s obviously some loopholes and some vague language in that policy. To simply say now we don’t think she should have collected it – show me in (the policy) where it says she’s not entitled to it,” he said.

He also questioned why other county departments, such as human resources and the payroll department, did not raise the issue if they felt there was a problem with the payment.

“This thing was processed by the payroll office. They very well could have denied it if they felt that was the appropriate action,” he said.

Doug Richards, director of human resources, and Tom Pribula, director of budget and finance, said they had no role in determining what Brulo, or any county employee, is entitled to receive upon leaving their job. That determination is up to the employee’s department head.

“Payroll processes a check based on information provided to them, supposedly by an authorized management person. There is no responsibility for them to interpret policy or second guess what someone has submitted,” Pribula said.

Pribula said he agrees the county needs to alter its policy regarding employees charged with crimes. He said he believes that policy should, at the very least, direct department heads to postpone making a determination on benefit eligibility until criminal charges have been resolved.

“If that employee worked for me, I would have at least held the check until the dust settled,” he said, referring to Brulo. “I would not have been eager to send $12,000 out the door.”

Urban said commissioners have made it a top priority to review the policy. In the interim, he wants to make sure commissioners are advised of all proposed payments made to employees leaving county employment.

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Policy loophole let charged official who quit collect for unused personal, sick time.

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