Officer fired for overtime fraud collects pension
An officer who was fired from his job as a member of the Connecticut Valley Hospital police force in March for payroll fraud recently began collecting a lifetime pension of $73,800, the Hartford Courant reports.
The Connecticut Comptroller's Office approved Benjamin Quinones' pension application because he met a state mandate that employees working in hazardous duty jobs such as law enforcement may retire after 20 years of service. Before Quinones was fired, he had accrued more than 21 years of hazardous duty credit, according to the news source.
Quinones, who was the highest overtime-earner in his 58-member department, earned more than $175,000 last year, more than doubling his base salary of less than $85,000. Between January 2006 and April 2009, his average pay was approximately $148,000.
An investigation conducted by the Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services in January of this year revealed that Quinones allegedly submitted falsified time sheets and accepted $32,000 in compensation for 500 overtime hours he did not work. However, the earnings period used to calculate his pension did not include the reportedly fraudulent overtime.
The Connecticut Comptroller's Office approved Benjamin Quinones' pension application because he met a state mandate that employees working in hazardous duty jobs such as law enforcement may retire after 20 years of service. Before Quinones was fired, he had accrued more than 21 years of hazardous duty credit, according to the news source.
Quinones, who was the highest overtime-earner in his 58-member department, earned more than $175,000 last year, more than doubling his base salary of less than $85,000. Between January 2006 and April 2009, his average pay was approximately $148,000.
An investigation conducted by the Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services in January of this year revealed that Quinones allegedly submitted falsified time sheets and accepted $32,000 in compensation for 500 overtime hours he did not work. However, the earnings period used to calculate his pension did not include the reportedly fraudulent overtime.
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