Rhode Island judge's pension queried

PROVIDENCE -- An embattled judge on the state's traffic tribunal retired last fall with a pension that credited her for eight months that she had spent on unpaid leave, The Providence Sunday Journal reported yesterday.

Judge Marjorie R. Yashar's pension was $120,310 when she retired last September, but that amount includes $38,660 she collected while on leave from her job, the newspaper said.

The traffic tribunal chief judge, Albert DeRobbio, said that he was not involved in calculating Yashar's pension, and that he was not sure who had credited her for the unpaid leave.

State Court Administrator J. Joseph Baxter Jr. signed off on the pension, but said his staff verifies only a judge's starting and retirement dates.

Yashar admitted last fall to four violations of judicial ethics rules, including demeaning the judicial office and leaving early from work, and was publicly censured in October by the state Supreme Court.

The judge was charged in January 2005 with stomping on her husband's foot; the charge was dropped.

Yashar tried to return to work last June, but DeRobbio refused to return her to the payroll or to give her any cases. She officially resigned on Sept. 27.

''My position was I didn't care personally about retirement," DeRobbio said. ''I didn't care about what she received. My position was: As soon as she goes, that's fine. But I want to make sure she is off my payroll."

Yashar reached her 20-year anniversary with the traffic tribunal while on leave, making her eligible for a 100-percent-of-salary pension. She also turned 65, which allowed her to begin collecting a pension upon retirement.

The judge did not stop collecting credit for her pension in the months she was on unpaid leave.

Yashar did not answer a question about whether her pension was discussed with DeRobbio.