Pay dispute proves costly
Claim for $1,000 settled for $6,000
Despite the worsening financial situation for Medford's city government, officials spent a year fighting a $1,000 employee overtime claim and have now settled the case for thousands of dollars more than the initial requested amount.
The settlement, which was approved by City Council on March 17, came after the magistrate in the case in the US District Court in Boston ordered both sides to resolve the dispute, saying the potential legal cost of fighting the lawsuit would far exceed the $1,000 request.
In her filing made in May 2008, Marlene Aborn, senior clerk in the city office of Veterans Services, said she wasn't paid for 40 hours of overtime worked while compiling a list of veterans to be inscribed on the Medford World War II memorial.
Medford Assistant City Solicitor Anthony Santoro said the city denied Aborn's allegations, disputing both the dollar amount Aborn requested and the number of hours of unpaid overtime she said she had worked. However, after reading some of the evidence Aborn would have presented at trial and knowing the city would be responsible for all her attorneys' fees if she won even $1 in unpaid overtime, the city decided to settle.
After multiple attempts to contact him, Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn declined to elaborate on the city's side of the case, referring all questions to the Law Department. Likewise, several Medford city councilors declined to comment as decisions were made in a closed door session and authority in personnel decisions lies with McGlynn.
In the settlement approved by City Council at the request of McGlynn, the city pays $500 to Aborn and $5,375 to her attorneys, the Boston firm of Pyle, Rome, Lichten, Ehrenberg & Liss-Riordan, PC.
"It was a case that could have been settled long ago for an amount far less than what it was ultimately settled for," said David Rome, Aborn's attorney. "It seemed like the city wouldn't pay a penny in damages but would spend thousands to not pay her claim."
The Medford government budget is $124 million, so the extra $4,875 city officials spent to dispute Aborn's claim for a year is a very small portion of city spending. However, in recent months, McGlynn has called for government belt-tightening in the current economic downturn. The city lost $1.4 million in local aid from the state government, and the cost of snow and ice removal is nearly $1 million over budget.
The settlement amount doesn't include the cost of Medford's own legal defense. The city did not hire an outside attorney to handle the dispute; but Santoro said the case was consuming much of his time.
Medford City Councilor Frederick Dello Russo said the legal dispute and the settlement were disheartening because the overtime matter should have been worked out between Aborn and her superiors before a lawsuit was filed.
Aborn said the unpaid overtime came from May to June 2005 while she was making sure all Medford natives who fought in World War II had their names memorialized on the city's World War II monument. That monument, on Winthrop Street, was dedicated in October 2005.
"All of us veterans in Medford wanted to make sure everyone was included and no one was excluded," said Richard Watson, a Medford resident who served in the US merchant marine in World War II.
Watson said the monument has a star next to every name of a city native who was killed in the fighting. In his annual presentations at Medford High School, Watson tells the students to go to the city memorial, place their hand over a star, and say thank you.
"It is a wonderful memorial that we have in Medford; it is one of the best I've seen," Watson said. "They did a fantastic job."
In exchange for the extra work Aborn performed on the project above her 35-hour workweek, the city claimed it offered paid time off; but Rome said the number of hours offered was not sufficient and that Aborn never agreed to comp time instead of overtime.
Rome said before he filed the lawsuit on May 6, 2008, he sent a letter to McGlynn asking for the $1,000 to avoid a lengthy legal battle, but the mayor never responded.
City officials only discussed a possible settlement, Rome said, after the magistrate in the case ordered them to do so.
"My client feels her point was well taken that when employees work extra time, they need to be compensated," Rome said. "We hope that in the future, the city honor's employees' claims for hours worked."
Brad Kane can be reached at brad.j.kane@gmail.com. 