September 10, 2008
Pressuring public employees to sign nondisclosure pacts
While directing his staff to draft a bill banning public authorities from requiring employees to sign nondisclosure pacts, Governor David Paterson also might want to take a look at severance agreements negotiated by school districts and local governments.
Citing technical problems, Paterson vetoed a bill that would make it illegal for a public authority--but not any other government entity--to force an employee to sign a contract agreeing not to disclose any information acquired during his or her employment unless such information would be subject to nondisclosure provisions of the Freedom of Information Law.
The bill was introduced in anticipation of a New York Times story reporting that at least 19 employees of the New York Power Authority "were required to keep secret the circumstances of their departures in order to obtain severance pay or benefits", ranging from $11,728 to $286,397.
The nondisclosure provisions--which are highly unusual for public entities like state agencies and authorities--bar the former employees from speaking about the circumstances of their departure or even disclosing the existence of the agreements.
In denouncing Paterson's veto, Assembly sponsor Richard Brodsky, a Westchester County Democrat, said, "I've called state authorities Soviet-style bureaucracies because of the use of these tactics to bully and silence present and former employees of matters the public needs to know about."
Nondisclosure severance agreements--along with a generous cash allowance-- may serve to shield an employer from threats of future litigation.
That's the case with a severance agreement between the East Greenbush school district (Rensselaer County) and Superintendent Rebecca Furlong. She will get up to $160,000 plus benefits as long as she keeps silent about why she left the district after only four months on the job. Most East Greenbush residents were unaware of the costly terms of the deal until it was reported here eight months later.
Other examples of generous goodbyes at taxpayer expense-- without taxpayer full knowledge include:
Port Chester Supervisor Bill Williams, 60, was given the equivalent of nine months of his $150,000 annual salary plus health insurance for life although he'd worked for the Westchester County town for less than two years
Cambridge School Superintendent Melody Troy got $80,000 to leave two years into a three-year, $120,000-a-year contract with the Washington County district. .
Why did Williams, Troy and Furlong get paid so much to go away? The public may never know.
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