Ethics panel still reviewing Conyers' pay to aide

[alp227]

Source: Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House Ethics Committee said today it’s continuing to look at whether U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, wrongly paid his former chief of staff for four months she didn’t work.

The committee today released documents outlining its review of Conyers, which has been known about for some months. A report from the Office of Congressional Ethics raises the possibility that Conyers violated House rules when he paid Cynthia Martin more than $50,000 for work she did not do last year.

But Conyers – the longest-serving active member of Congress – argued through his lawyers in a response to the committee that the wages were paid to Martin as part of a termination settlement crafted on the advice of the U.S. House’s own internal employment counsel.

Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/09/john-conyers-ethics-panel-aide/553210001/

[PoliticAverse]

1. The article notes...

Brian Svoboda and David Lazarus of Washington law firm Perkins Coie wrote to the committee in June that Martin – who had worked for Conyers for nearly two decades, the last eight of which she was his chief of staff – was kept on payroll even after she was effectively terminated as a means to pay her accrued annual leave she was owed and two months’ severance pay.

So can you pay a terminated employee for accrued leave and severance? If the answer is yes should they
have paid it in a single disbursement instead of keeping her on the payroll or was this the accepted way of doing
it based on their accounting/disbursement system?

[cstanleytech]

2. Perhaps it was due to some other reason like monthly budget limitations?

[BumRushDaShow]

3. In the federal government

say if you retire or voluntarily leave you can get your accrued annual leave as a lump sum that you usually receive with your last paycheck posted after you retire/leave service, or you could technically "use it up" by being "on leave" (not in the office but still on the payroll) until your effective retirement date/exit date (assuming the supervisor approves). Regular schedule employees can carry over up to 240 hours each year and if they wait to leave at the end of a calendar year, could accrue an additional 208 hours if they have >15 years service (receiving 8 hours per pay period). SES and special schedule can often carry over something like 720 hours each year and can accrue the same 208 additional by the end of a calendar year (all assuming no leave is used).

I suppose the technicality in this case would be when her effective termination date was set. It may have been set to be at the end of those 4 months. If not, then there might be an issue outside of what Conyers is suggesting - an agreement was put in place regarding the terms of termination. These types of agreements often happen as a result of management-employee actions (grievances, lawsuits, arbitration cases) that set terms for an employee's exit.