Big payday for exiting Pike officials

Seven Massachusetts Turnpike Authority managers who quit their jobs this week walked away with more than $230,000 in extra pay under a generous sick leave policy put in place in July by ousted chairman Matthew J. Amorello.

Transportation Secretary John Cogliano, Governor Mitt Romney's choice to lead the troubled transportation agency, repealed the policy yesterday. It had allowed departing Turnpike Authority managers to cash out half of their unused sick days, much more than other state workers.

In all, the seven departed managers received $365,092, consisting of $238,818 in sick leave money and $126,274 in accrued vacation time, according to calculations by state transportation officials.

Some of the managers left with vacation and sick pay totaling more than $50,000. Amorello, who will continue to collect his $223,000-a-year salary until next Feb. 15, received nearly $54,000 more in unused vacation pay, or about 450 hours, when he left Tuesday. He did not collect any unused sick leave.

``What has become clear to us is there were highly unusual transactions that occurred toward the end of Amorello's run" at the Turnpike Authority, said Jon Carlisle, spokesman for the Executive Office of Transportation. The Turnpike Authority is investigating whether the unusual leave policy violated state rules, he added.

Cogliano also fired six top managers yesterday, including the authority's director of human resources, the chief information officer, and the manager of facilities operations, who was just three months shy of retirement. They were offered no severance or sick pay.

Meanwhile, state officials made another discovery yesterday as they toured the authority's administrative offices at the state Transportation Building: six digital cameras hidden inside smoke detectors. A monitor was discovered in the office of an Amorello aide. State officials said security cameras in other state buildings are not concealed.

``The way it was described, it looks very weird," said Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's spokesman. ``I don't know what the purpose was. There are none in the governor's office."

Before Amorello changed the sick leave policy, authority managers earned 1.25 days of sick leave a month, which they could carry over from year to year. If they retired, they were eligible to cash in 20 percent of their unused sick leave, which is also the policy for other state workers. If they quit or were terminated, they forfeited any unused sick time.

In his July 5 directive, Amorello unilaterally changed the authority's sick leave policy. The new policy allowed managers to cash in 50 percent of their unused sick leave when they left for any reason. It also allowed managers with 10 years of service to use the remaining 50 percent to pay for their medical insurance.

Turnpike Authority board members said they were unaware of the change, which was made in an internal document.

``What an outrageous action," said Mary Connaughton, a Romney appointee to the Turnpike Authority board, referring to the Amorello policy. ``That single action symbolizes everything that was wrong with the Turnpike. Those actions and others will all be reversed under this administration."

Amorello, who was forced out by Romney after a July 10 tunnel ceiling collapse killed 38-year-old Milena Del Valle of Jamaica Plain, could not be reached for comment yesterday. Though Romney had been pressuring Amorello to resign since the discovery of leaks in the Big Dig tunnel in 2004, he resisted until a Supreme Judicial Court justice last month refused to block a hearing in which Romney would have sought to remove him.

In addition to unused sick leave, one Amorello aide also received special severance pay. Mariellen Burns, Amorello's communications director, received a total of $25,100 upon her departure, state officials said. In addition to $7,408 in unused vacation and sick time, Burns received $17,692 in ``special recognition" pay. Carlisle called the special recognition pay ``highly unusual" and said those types of bonuses are generally not awarded to departing state employees.

Burns, who has been working at the Turnpike Authority for a year and a half, could not be reached for comment.

Burns and deputy chief of staff Keith Shirley, who also quit, were not eligible to retire, so they would not have been able to receive any unused sick leave if Amorello had not amended the policy. Shirley walked away with $19,156, including $12,567 in unused sick leave pay and the rest in vacation time.

Marie Hayman, Amorello's chief of staff, had worked long enough to qualify for retirement. She, too, took advantage of the July 5 directive, leaving with her pension and $94,096, including $58,746 in unused sick time and the rest in vacation time.

According to state officials, the departed employees who took advantage of the July 5 directive have already received their vacation and sick pay checks, even though they haven't yet received their final paychecks. Unused vacation and other pay are usually included in an employee's last check, state officials said.

The discoveries of the sick time policy and the video cameras, along with the firings, were made on the second day of the new leadership at the Turnpike Authority. Cogliano was sworn in as the authority's new chairman by Romney on Wednesday.

Among those terminated yesterday was Robert Marino, manager of facilities operations, who was asked by state officials yesterday to escort other fired workers out of the building before he was fired himself.

He also showed Cogliano around the authority offices, he said.

``They told me to get out and handed me a letter explaining my termination," said Marino, 68, of Everett. ``I was so nervous I left the letter there."

He had no idea why he was singled out, Marino said. ``I'm not one of those decision makers. I take care of all the chairmen. I do whatever they tell me to do. I'm just a worker.

``I'm not a healthy person. I'm 68 years old. It is really cruel. With just a few months left to go, to be thrown on the street. I don't think anyone should have that done to them."

Also terminated were William Catania, chief information officer; James Esposito, director of personnel; Norman Chalupka, director of human resources; Thomas Farmer, director of media relations; and Domenic Tringale, chief financial officer.

Cristina Silva of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Andrea Estes can be reached at estes@globe.com. Cristina Silva can be reached at csilva@globe.com.