SOUTH HADLEY — The South Hadley Electric Light Department has settled out of court with a former manager who claimed he was owed $621,000 in wages and benefits.
“We are aware they have a settlement but we are not privy to the terms of the settlement,” Town Administrator Michael Sullivan said Monday.
According to Sullivan, SHELD wrote two checks on Sept. 26: the first to its former manager, Wayne Doerpholz, for $150,000, and the second to the Springfield law firm Reardon, Joyce & Akerson, for $235,000.
Sullivan said it was not clear to him whether these payments were part of legal settlements or unrelated. The law firm represented a SHELD engineer who had filed a complaint against Doerpholz.
Doerpholz declined to comment on the terms of the settlement. The lawsuit, filed May 26, 2016, was settled in Hampshire Superior Court on Oct. 19, according to court documents.
The checks were paid from SHELD accounts, not the town finances, meaning the burden falls on electric ratepayers instead of taxpayers. Mount Holyoke College is one of the largest ratepayers in South Hadley, yet does not pay taxes as a nonprofit.
“In this day and age anytime you have any kind of settlement it affects what you can do,” Sullivan said. “I think there’s been a lot of change at SHELD. There’s been a change in the form of government, they’ve gone from three people on the board to five people on the board, which gives you more diversity, and more transparency.”
The settlement marks the second time SHELD has settled a lawsuit on undisclosed terms this year.
Reardon, Joyce, & Akerson attorney Andrew J. Gambaccini represented SHELD engineer Robert Blasko Jr. in a separate lawsuit regarding harassment in the workplace. In October 2015, Blasko filed a $750,000 lawsuit against the public utility, alleging an unsafe work environment, a pattern of bullying, insufficient managerial oversight and retaliation.
That lawsuit was also settled on undisclosed terms.
Blasko had claimed that Doerpholz and former engineer Andrew Orr retaliated against him for complaining about a long-standing pattern of intimidation.
Following an investigation, Doerpholz was put on paid administrative leave on Oct. 27, 2015. Orr resigned from his post on July 22, 2016, while also on paid leave.
The SHELD board of directors voted not to renew Doerpholz’s contract on Feb. 25, 2016, essentially terminating his position when the contract expired on May 31, 2016.
Doerpholz claims he was denied compensation for 3,248 hours of accrued vacation time and 3,593 hours of sick leave over a 35-year period, amounting to about $476,580 owed to him. His claim prompted an investigation by state Inspector General Glenn Cunha.
On May 31, 2016, Cunha wrote that Doerpholz “exceeded his authority and violated his duties to the Board and the ratepayers” by allowing employees to bank excess sick and vacation time, in violation of company policies. The inspector general’s office determined Doerpholz was instead owed $15,149.20 in accrued vacation time, and nothing for sick time as he had not technically retired from the company.
Doerpholz also claimed the company did not give him the required 90-day notice before his termination, making him eligible for an additional year of employment, a claim refuted by the inspector general’s office.
“We continue to stand by the findings in our May 2016 letter,” inspector general’s office spokesman Jack Meyers said Monday.
Doerpholz also filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination on March 28, 2016, accusing the company of age discrimination. Doerpholz worked for SHELD for 35 years, oversaw 18 employees and received an annual salary of $143,228.80 at the time of his departure.
Neither Anne Awad, a SHELD board member who served as acting manager in Doerpholz’s absence, nor Sean Fitzgerald, who took over as manager in February, could be reached for comment.
“They’re probably going to announce in another week or so some new projects from a solar perspective,” Sullivan said. “Through the hard work of the present board and the new manager who seems young and enthusiastic, they are driving the company in a more businesslike manner. It’s good to have this over with, and to put it in the rearview mirror.”
Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@gazettenet.com.