Luzerne County Government

April 7, 2010

Investigation to look into pay given Hyder

County controller to determine if ex-jail employee was entitled to all of salary he received while injured.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
Jennifer Learn-Andes on Facebook   |   @TLJenLearnAndes on Twitter

Luzerne County officials voted Tuesday to ask county Controller Walter Griffith to investigate county pay to former prison employee Sam Hyder in 1999, after he was injured while protecting an inmate who was being attacked by other prisoners.

Hyder, who was a guard at that time, was entitled to 26 weeks of full compensation but received more than double that amount, minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said during Tuesday’s county retirement board meeting.

The 26 weeks was guaranteed by the union contract governing guards at that time, Urban said, paid to employees who were injured in a direct altercation with an inmate.

Hyder was injured on Oct. 29, 1998. The 26 weeks should have run out around the end of April 1999, but prison records show that he continued to receive full pay and benefits through the entire year.

Urban said he was informed by prison workers that former prison warden Gene Fischi authorized the extended benefits for Hyder. He said he recently discovered the extended payments while researching Hyder’s request to buy credit for previous county employment to boost his future pension.

Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla seconded Urban’s motion to direct Griffith to investigate, and the other board members – Commissioner Tom Cooney, Griffith and Treasurer Michael Morreale – also voted for the investigation.

Griffith met with prison employees to review the records Tuesday and said he plans to subpoena Hyder and Fischi.

Hyder, who declined comment Tuesday, went on workers’ compensation Jan. 1, 2000 and resigned in May 2000, after he accepted a $70,000 compensation settlement. He was rehired as prison deputy warden in 2004 and was recently furloughed from that $74,263-a-year position.

Hyder is awaiting a court ruling on his request to receive workers’ compensation. He is contending that working conditions made him stressed, anxious, depressed and ultimately led to an Aug. 5 blackout.

The retirement board voted Tuesday to allow Hyder to buy credit for his employment from Dec. 26, 1990 through Jan. 1, 2000. The board disallowed several months from the buy-back because Hyder had been on worker’s compensation during that time.

Hyder will pay $17,826 for the credit. He had to buy back time for it to count toward his pension because he had opted to cash out his employee contributions when he resigned in 2000.

State law allows employees to buy back credit from previous county employment, though time on workers’ compensation may not be included in the calculation.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.

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