Springfield worker files for appeal
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
A city employee out of work for more than a year is appealing the denial of her request for a disability retirement.The case of administrative assistant Kathleen M. Krupczak, who is on unpaid leave, involves her allegations that City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula was verbally "abusive and hostile" and used profanity in her presence, causing her to be physically and emotionally unable to work. Pikula has denied the claims.
The case puts Pikula, a key appointee of Mayor Charles V. Ryan, in the spotlight as the mayor begins sensitivity training for municipal employees and seeks re-election against an opponent critical of his record on employee relations.
In Retirement Board votes on July 25, Krupczak was granted an "ordinary disability" retirement, one unrelated to work, but denied an "accidental disability," retirement. The latter would have granted her higher pay if she could prove the disability was based on physical or emotional injury sustained at work.
Her case has played out in several Retirement Board meetings since May that have yielded hundreds of pages of transcripts.
Krupczak, a 16-year city employee whose most recent day of work was Aug. 3, 2006, makes $35,070 a year, according to Personnel Director Marilyn Montagna.
Pikula has been a city employee since 1980, and his annual salary is $125,000, Montagna said.
The appeal will be made to the state Contributory Retirement Administration Board, which forwards such cases to the Division of Administrative Law Appeals. A decision can take a year, according to Krupczak's lawyer.
Krupczak, who, according to transcripts from Retirement Board meetings suffers from chronic illnesses, contends that Pikula on several occasions was verbally "abusive and hostile" to the point she was left physically and emotionally unable to work, Rooke said.
Krupczak also said Pikula used profanity in speaking to her, according to transcripts and Rooke.
Krupczak declined to comment, but said about Pikula in one of the Retirement Board transcripts: "I always knew when he was going to lash out at me."
Pikula said in the transcripts that the claim is untrue and that the reason he was agitated in the meeting with Krupczak at which she says he swore at her was because she suddenly began making accusations about another Law Department employee. Those accusations about the other employee were investigated and found to be untrue, according to the mayor and Pikula.
In a recent phone interview, Pikula said the allegations surprised him.
"But in general, I feel a bit of vindication in the fact that the Retirement Board listened to all the witnesses over several days of hearings and reviewed all the evidence before making their decision," Pikula said.
Ryan said he sympathizes with Krupczak as she endures illnesses, but he said he has full confidence in Pikula and gave him high praise.
City Councilor Domenic J. Sarno, Ryan's opponent in the Nov. 6 election, said the case is another poor reflection on Ryan.
Posted in Denied Insurance Claims