A City Hall clerk has allegedly received $500,000 since 2016, despite not stepping foot in the office.
In February 2016, the City of Buffalo, New York accused Jill Repman, 56 — formerly known as Jill Parisi — of tampering with the fire department payroll, according to local news organization Investigative Post.
Jill started working for the city in November 1994 as a civilian employee for the police department, then transferred two years later to the fire department.
She was said to be a 'hard worker' and often worked overtime. By 2009, she was promoted to senior administrative assistant.
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Jill was accused of altering her Social Security/Medicare FICA deductions on the fire department’s payroll system to increase her biweekly pay by a few hundred dollars.
According to the comptroller's office, she allegedly did this twice. After the first padded check was issued, she is said to have undone the change.
The second time, the comptroller’s office caught the alleged discrepancy.
On 2 February 2016, Jill was placed on administrative leave.
After a week’s investigation, disciplinary charges were brought against her.
The Buffalo News reported at the time that Parisi could be suspended without pay for 30 days and that during that time, a meeting would be conducted to see if Parisi and the administration could reach an agreement on what happened during the alleged incident.
However, the allegations against Jill Repman were never resolved, according to the report.
Instead, according to payroll records, the city simply kept paying her and she has received a paycheque from the City of Buffalo every two weeks for the past seven and a half years.
The latest cheque Jill received was on 31 August. It was for $2,727 (£2,202), according to city payroll records.
Between 2016 and 2023, the city has allegedly paid her $572,067 (£461,946).
On top of this, for six of the seven years since accusations were made against her, Jill has allegedly held a second job in the private sector, managing payroll for a local healthcare company.
After seven and a half years of what is essentially paid leave, Jill was ordered back to work, according to Fillmore District Council Member Mitch Nowakowski, and she resumed her job for the City of Buffalo on-site.
UNILAD has contacted Buffalo City Hall for comment.
Bec Oakes