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Massport chief Thomas Kinton to retire, collect $450K in sick leave

E-mail | Print | Comments () Posted by John Ellement February 16, 2011 01:49 PM

Bill Greene / Boston Globe file photo

Thomas J. Kinton Jr. talked with Massachusetts State troopers Randall Enos and Rusty Szeto prior to Thanksgiving in this Boston Globe file photo from last November.

By Michael Levenson and Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff

Thomas J. Kinton Jr. will retire as the executive director of the Massachusetts Port Authority in June, Massport said today.

The delayed departure will give the board time to find a successor and to allow Kinton to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in unused sick time. Kinton is 59.

The Globe reported last year that Kinton earns a base salary of $295,000 a year. On retirement, Kinton said, he will receive about $450,000 in unused sick leave. He is grandfathered under an old Massport policy that allows employees to receive 100 percent of the cash value of their accumulated sick days

According to Massport's 2009 compensation report, Kinton had accumulated 478 sick days.

His pension will equal 67 percent of his salary in his highest-earning years, Kinton said.

Kinton was director of aviation at Logan on Sept. 11, 2001, when Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked two aircraft and flew them into the World Trade Center in New York City. He held that post between 1993 and 2006.

In his official biography, Kinton points to the the creation of a support program for families who lose loved ones in air disasters and overseeing upgraded security at Logan in the post-9/11 world as among his top career accomplishments.