SOUTH HADLEY — A state watchdog says the former general manager of the South Hadley Electric Light Department is owed $461,000 less than he claims.
Wayne Doerpholz claimed that the utility owes him $476,580 in accrued vacation, sick leave and personal time as he departs from his post. But Massachusetts Inspector General Glenn Cunha said in a letter Tuesday that the actual figure is $15,149.20 as a vacation payout and no money for accrued sick leave until Doerpholz files paperwork to formally retire.
“Paying Doerpholz money that is not owed to him would be a waste of public funds,” Cunha’s letter states.
Besides finding “significant evidence that challenges the legitimacy of Doerpholz’s claimed payout entitlement,” the letter notes that there is “good cause to question Doerpholz’s claimed entitlement because Doerpholz himself was responsible for maintaining SHELD’s records, implementing SHELD’s personnel policies, and enforcing the cap on carryover vacation days, all of which gave him the opportunity to take advantage of his position to benefit himself.”
Doerpholz’s contract, which expired Tuesday, was not renewed following a February vote by the commissioners who oversee SHELD.
He had been on paid administrative leave since October after he was named in a federal whistleblower lawsuit alleging that he failed to adequately respond to complaints of bullying in the workplace. His annual salary was $143,000.
In March, Doerpholz filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination alleging that age discrimination was the reason his contract was not renewed.
SHELD Commission Chairwoman Anne Awad, to whom the inspector general’s letter was addressed, said Wednesday she received it and she will convene a meeting of the municipal light board to discuss its implications.
The conclusions of the seven-page letter are based on a detailed analysis of personnel policies going back to 1970 when, it states, Doerpholz became a part-time employee of the utility while he was still in high school. According to the letter, Doerpholz was appointed manager in 1982, having taken on the position of acting manager a year earlier.
A claim by Doerpholz that he is owed approximately $223,657 based on 3,248 hours of unused vacation time “has no basis in SHELD’s policies or his contract,” according to Cunha’s letter, citing a section of his employment agreement, stating that his vacation benefits “shall be in accordance with those provided other SHELD employees.”
The letter also states that “SHELD has never had a designated Human Resources Manager” and that the utility’s accounts are inconsistent relating to how accrued vacation and sick time was calculated.
“The office has evidence that some — but not all — employees carried over and ‘banked’ vacation time indefinitely, thereby amassing large vacation balances over time,” according to Cunha’s letter. “To the extent Doerpholz applied the vacation policy differently to different employees, he abused his authority. … To the extent Doerpholz permitted employees to bank time, he exceeded his authority and violated his duties to the Board and the ratepayers.”
A call to Doerpholz on Wednesday seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Awad said Wednesday, “I am impressed with the inspector general’s report. I think they were able to review voluminous records and identify things that we were unable to do, so it’s helpful and it’s good guidance.”
Jack Meyers, a spokesman for the inspector general’s office, declined Wednesday to say if the office determined which employees received preferential treatment in terms of banking vacation and sick time, or whether the inspector general is looking into other aspects of SHELD’s operations.
Neither Awad nor Meyers would say what initiated the office’s interest in the utility. The mandate of the inspector general’s office is to prevent and detect fraud, waste and abuse in the expenditure of public funds.
The report, Meyers said, lays out the “calculations” the inspector general has made with regard to what Doerpholz is owed, but does not specifically tell the board how to act.
“Our letter represents what we’ve found to date and we recommend that the board do due diligence” in deciding how to proceed, Meyers said.
Because SHELD’s accounts are subject to inspection by the town of South Hadley, the letter notes, the Select Board “may, before approving the payment of a claim or account against SHELD, require any person presenting a claim to swear under oath to the accuracy of the claim.”
Making a false claim is punishable as perjury, according to the letter, and the Select Board “may refuse to pay, in whole or in part, any claim that is ‘fraudulent, unlawful or excessive.’”
Eric Goldscheider can be reached at eric.goldscheider@gmail.com.