Exclusive: Sacramento police and firefighters got six-figure payments while on paid leave
At least six City of Sacramento firefighters and police officers received six-figure salaries while on paid leave last year during criminal or administrative investigations, according to records obtained by The Sacramento Bee.
Among them was Alexa Palubicki, who was charged with two felony counts of filing a false police report. Following the charge, the city put Palubicki on paid leave, ending in November, when the city fired her. During the 17-month leave, she received $118,317.
The city paid a total of $1.4 million to 52 of those employees from 2018 to present, The Sacramento Bee learned from a California Public Records Act request.
The city did not disclose the names of the additional roughly 20 employees who were on paid leave during the timeframe, or the amounts paid to them. The city did not disclose the reasons for the paid leaves.
Many of the cases appeared to resolve within weeks. The six-figure payouts occurred in cases where disciplinary investigations took longer than a year.
The public employees are entitled to that process through contracts their unions negotiated as well as state laws that grant additional protections to police and firefighters accused of misconduct.
Gary Messing, an attorney who specializes in public sector labor relations for cops and firefighters, said he has handled over 3,000 of those cases in his career, but only a handful took longer than a year to resolve.
“It’s once in a blue moon,” Messing said. “Generally the agencies get these cases and they move the investigations along because they don’t want to carry people on their books that length of time.”
One union leader said neither the city nor the employees like to see the extended paid leave. It’s costly, and can leave a public employee in a difficult situation.
Officer Tim Davis, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, said all employees have a right to due process before facing any disciplinary action. But he criticized city officials for taking too long to resolve administrative leaves, which drives up the payments.
“These delays weigh on both the employee and the city,” Davis said in a statement. “These bureaucratic delays keep exonerated employees at home long after they should have been returned to work and in other cases keep employees on the payroll after they should have been terminated. The SPOA has expressed frustration with the current bureaucratic delays, and we call on the city to streamline the disciplinary process so that disciplinary cases can be resolved more quickly, while still affording employees their constitutionally guaranteed rights.”
A handful of of the public employees are connected to allegations of misconduct that are described in lawsuits and other public records.
Palubicki’s case in the public domain because prosecutors filed criminal charges against her in May 2021. They alleged she altered a police report to cover up that she did not have probable cause to pull over a driver in July 2020.
This week, she filed a lawsuit against the city alleging it did not grant her arbitration. Palubicki’s attorney did not respond to an email seeking comment for this story.
In July 2020, Palubicki and officer Rowan Vining searched the vehicle of a Black man, finding a handgun. The man, Andre Davis, was charged with two felony counts of carrying a concealed weapon and with driving with suspended license.
But according to police documents obtained by The Bee, Palubicki “freaked out” about how to write the police report because she did not have probable cause.
The police report said Davis did not use his turn signal, but footage showed he did. Her partner Officer Rowan Vining said she saw marijuana in the car, prompting a search, but it turned out to be tobacco.
Vining and Palubicki’s husband, Officer Ryan Thomas, are on paid leave, according to the Police Department. Two other officers connected to the Palubicki investigation were on paid leave for five days before returning to work.
Firefighters on leave after man’s death
On Feb. 25, 2020, Harriet Jefferson called 911 to request emergency assistance for her son, Reginald Payne, a diabetic suffering from low blood sugar, according to a lawsuit the family filed in federal court.
In a video released by the department, a firefighter can be heard telling a police officer that they called the police for help because the man was large and was swinging his legs and arms around. The officers place Payne on his stomach and cuff his hands behind his back so medics can provide treatment. At least three officers can be seen holding down Payne while he screamed and sobbed.
About 14 minutes after the first officer arrived at the home, Payne stops making noises and stops moving, the videos show. He never regained consciousness, and died several days later.
Five Fire Department employees who are named in the family’s lawsuit against the city received between $112,000 to $138,00 each while on paid leave for about 13 months after the death.
The employees, who were on paid leave from June 2020 to summer 2021, are: Fire Capt. Jeffrey Klein, who received $138,849; fire department engineer Eric Munson, who received $129,920; firefighter Sean Holleman, who received $118,259; firefighter Scott Caravalho, who received $112,018; and firefighter Clinton Simons, who received $114,845.
Klein is no longer a city employee as of June, said city spokesman Tim Swanson. He declined to characterize how Klein left the department because the city does not comment on individual personnel matters, he said.
Police officers Kevin Moorman, John Helmich and David Mower were also named as defendants in the federal lawsuit. The city said they are still employed, but declined to disclose whether they are on paid leave.
Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Keith Wade and Swanson declined to discuss the incident.
Most Sacramento employees returned to work
Another costly paid leave payment went to officers involved in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man who reportedly fled police investigating a domestic violence incident.
Officer Nicholas Caro received $65,038 during a leave from February to November 2021, and is still employed. Officer Eric Toomey remains on leave, according to city records.
They shot Adan Martinez over 20 times in February 2021, according to a lawsuit filed against the city in federal court.
Also on the list of employees who received paid leave from 2018 to present include five other Fire Department employees, eight other Police Department employees, 13 public works employees, nine utilities employees, four community development department employees, three convention and cultural services employees, and one parks employee.
The city declined to disclose the reasons for those paid leaves.
As of Friday, 28 of the employees who had been on paid leave are no longer city employees.
The city in November fired police officer Justin David Shepard, who was charged with domestic violence and possession of steroids, said police spokesman Eaton. Prior to that, Shepard was on administrative leave for six months. The city did not disclose whether his leave was paid or unpaid.
In recent months, the Sacramento Police Department has disclosed that two more officers accused of criminal misconduct have been placed on administrative leave.
Officer Benjamin Gray, who is under investigation for secretly recording women in “intimate settings” has been on paid leave since mid-January; and Officer Matthew Thompson has been on paid leave since November 2021, when he was criminally charged with steroid possession.
The city at times places employees on unpaid leave, but typically only when “they have made themselves unavailable to work,” Swanson said.
“When an employee of the City of Sacramento is subject to an administrative investigation, they retain the rights guaranteed by the due-process clause in the U.S. Constitution,” Swanson said in a statement. “In order to meet its constitutional obligations, the city must complete a full and fair investigation and allow the employee to answer the charges before imposing any discipline, such as suspension, demotion or termination. It is during this investigation that the employee is placed in paid-leave status and remains so until the city completes this process and imposes discipline, if any.”
Staff writer Sam Stanton contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 5:25 AM.
