City investigated for undisclosed special ‘payouts’ to top officials who resigned

Exclusive in City Desk ABQ

High-level city officials have been awarded thousands of dollars in extra compensation after announcing their resignations thanks to a special, and mostly unknown, leave program, City Desk ABQ has learned. 

The most high-profile recipient of the “special leave” was Sarita Nair, Mayor Tim Keller’s top aide and the city’s chief administrative officer who announced her resignation from the city less than four months into Keller’s second term in March of 2022. On her final day in the office the next month, she signed a memo from other top city officials providing her with almost 40 extra days of pay worth more than $30,000 through a process outside of normal city policies.

City Desk ABQ has also identified other executives in the city who, in the years since, were awarded bonus leave that converted into extra pay after they announced resignations. 

In interviews with City Desk ABQ, individuals familiar with the practice disclosed that they had been interviewed by the city’s inspector general earlier this year. On Thursday, Inspector General Melissa Santistevan confirmed that her office is investigating claims that a select number of high-level former employees were given special treatment when they resigned. Specifically, the office confirmed it is investigating whether Nair was given a deal upon resignation for “special leave.”

According to city spokesperson Ava Montoya, with special authorization, the city can create exceptions for leave policies. “It is not unusual to do so for higher level executives or to take into consideration their health and retirement, as the demands of their roles often restrict them from taking large chunks of leave during their service,” Montoya said.

City Desk ABQ reached out to Nair, who is now the state’s secretary of the Workforce Solutions Department in Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s cabinet, for comment but did not hear back as of press time. 

“Paid Leave – Other”

When Keller was elected for his first term, Nair followed him from the state auditor’s office to city hall and served as the city’s chief administrative officer, a position similar to a city manager. 

In March 2022, Nair announced that she would leave her position on April 22. But she stayed on the payroll for another 80 days until August 12, 2022. During that time she burned vacation leave and weeks of special leave awarded to her on her last day of work through a special process not available to other employees. 

In an internal city memo obtained exclusively by City Desk ABQ dated April 21, 2022, then-HR Director Anthony Romero writes to Nair, “You informed us that your last day of work with the City is Friday, April 22, 2022. You also requested to be compensated for the accrued balances in vacation and sick leave…”

The memo shows that Nair had accrued 327.3 of vacation leave that could be used. It also listed 313.32 hours of accrued sick leave. 

Under city policy, employees who resign are compensated for unused vacation leave but the rules for cashing out sick leave are more restrictive.  

City Personnel Rules, Section 401.4(E), Sick Leave Conversion at Termination, state “An employee who has an accumulation of sick leave of between 500 hours and the maximum accrual will, upon termination from city employment, be allowed to convert accumulated sick leave in excess of 500 hours on the basis of three (3) hours of sick leave to one (1) hour of cash payment.”

For example, if an employee resigned with 560 hours of unused sick leave, the first 500 would be lost. The next 60 would be converted to cash payments at a three-to-one rate, netting just 20 extra hours of pay for the 560 hours of unused sick leave.

But with just 313.32 hours of sick leave on the books, Nair had not met the minimum standards to be cashed out for it by her resignation date.

In the memo, HR Director Anthony Romero wrote that instead of paying out unused sick leave, which would have violated city policy, Nair would be provided extra compensation – in exactly the same amount as her sick leave balance – in the form of a special category of leave called “Paid Leave – Other (PLO)” which would be paid out at her full hourly rate. City Desk ABQ could find no references to PLO in city personnel ordinances, regulations or labor contracts.

The special paid leave option was also not published in the employee handbook. 

At Nair’s 2021 hourly rate of $96.40 —  reported on the city’s transparency portal — the award of special leave in her final hours as a city employee provided her $30,204 in extra compensation. That is roughly 40 days of leave and benefits to be paid out after her last day of work and eligible vacation leave payout period.

Signatures on the memo show that Nair accepted the bonus leave award on her last day of employment. It was signed by HR Director Romero and initialed by Sanjay Bhakta, the city’s chief financial officer who oversaw human resources, risk management and budget. 

Both Romero and Bhakta retired in 2023. City Desk ABQ reached out to Bhakta, but he declined to comment.