Anna May Miller’s Vacation Pay in the Spotlight

Edgar County Watchdog Kirk Allen focuses his sights on Bob Miller’s wife and administrative assistant Anna May Miller in this article, which is re-printed with permission:

Algonquin Township Road District – Anna May Miller’s vacation pay violated policy and law –

McHenry Co. (ECWd) –

Bob Miller

Bob Miller, the former Algonquin Township Road District Commissioner implemented a personnel policy in 2012.

Contained in that policy is a laundry list of matters to write about but for this article, we will stick to the issue of the use of Vacation time and time earned.

On page 7 of the policy manual (page 11 of PDF), the policy states:

  • “Vacation time may not be accumulated.”
  • “All accumulated leave credit will be voided at the end of each fiscal year.”
  • “Employees are restricted from utilizing their vacation time between November 15 and April 15.”

Is there anyone that does not understand that policy?

In short, no vacation time can be accumulated, unused vacation is voided at the end of the fiscal year, and it can’t be taken between November 15 through April 15th.

Anna May Miller Vacation time taken in violation of the policy based on pay period:

  • November 20, 2014 – December 3, 2014 – 32hrs vacation time – $960.00
  • January 1, 2015 – January 14, 2015 – 6 hrs vacation time -$292.50
  • November 19, 2015 – December 2, 2015 -15.50 hrs vacation time -$465.00
  • December 3, 2015 – December 16, 2015 – 4 hrs vacation time – $120.00
  • December 17, 2015 – December 30, 2015 – 4 hrs vacation time – $120.00
  • March 24, 2016 – April 6, 2016 – 42.40 hrs vacation time – $1,270.00
  • April 6, 2017 – April 19, 2017,* – 92 hrs vacation time – $2,760.00  *(24 hrs allowed by policy for 17th, 18th, and 19th, which were a Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) 

So in a 2 1/2 year period, Ann May Miller, the wife of the former Road District Commissioner, took 171.90 hrs of vacation time in violation of the policy.

There may be a few more hours actually taken in the restricted date range but until we have the rest of the vacation records we can’t speak to those particular situations.

You will notice on the pay records there is vacation taken in a pay cycle that overlaps both restricted time frame and unrestricted time frame.

Ok, no big deal, the policy wasn’t followed and it was her vacation time.

Anna May Miller

Of more interest is that last two pay periods of Anna May Miller as it relates to her vacation time.

Pay records show there were two pay periods where vacation was paid in the fiscal year 2017.

The April 6th, 2017 pay period and April 20th, 2017 pay period, which is just weeks before her husband was out of a job.

Those two pay periods reflect 92 hrs vacation taken each time for a total of 184 hrs of paid vacation time, totaling $5,552.00.

Anna May began working at the Township Road District for her husband in August of 1998 according to records obtained from the Road District.

August of 2013 is the fifteen-year mark putting her at an entitlement of four weeks vacation each year plus one day every January after the 15 years of service point, according to the policy.

Had Anna May worked all of the fiscal year 2017, she would have been entitled to 4 weeks and 4 days of vacation, for a total of 192 hrs of vacation time.

The policy provides a set number of vacation time based on years in service and clearly states vacation time cannot be accumulated and unused time is void at the end of the fiscal year.

Township Road District fiscal year is April 1, 2017-March 31, 2018.

Anna May Miller only worked 6 weeks that fiscal year.

The policy is clear and states, “All accumulated leave credit will be voided at the end of each fiscal year.

That means April 1, 2017, the clock begins for that year’s vacation time.

Considering she only worked 6 weeks in that fiscal year and then departed, the law says she is only entitled to her “earned” 6 weeks worth of vacation time.

The Illinois Court of Appeals addressed this, as outlined in this Law Review:

“Lastly, the seventh circuit addressed the issue of vacation benefit forfeiture and stated that if a vacation policy exists under which employees earn vacation based upon length of service, employees must be paid, pro rata, for the amount of vacation earned as of the employee’s termination date.  The court gave the following example:  “if a full-time employee ceases work in the middle of the year, he receives vacation pay in proportion to how long he was worked that year.”  In other words, if an employee works for half of a year, she must be paid half the value of vacation pay she would have earned working a full year.  If the employee works 20% of the year, she must be paid 20% of the value of vacation pay she would have earned working a full year.”

April 1st, 2017 to May 14, 2017, equates to 44 days in that fiscal year which is 6 weeks.  There are 52 weeks in a year.

Having worked 6 weeks, Anna May Miller earned vacation is prorated at 11.9444% (percentage of the year worked)

By law, she is entitled to 11.94% of her earned vacation time.

At a rate of 24 days of vacation time that year, (4 weeks and 4 days), she is entitled to 11.94% of that time, or 2.86 days.

At a rate of $30.00 an hour, 2.86 days (22.88 work hrs) equates to $686.40.

Considering she walked out the door with $5,520.00 in vacation pay it appears Anna May Miller has a problem, as does the bookkeeper, and Bob Miller who approves the pay for his employees.

All indications point to her owing $4,833.60 back to the Township Road District.

I suspect this is going to lead to additional legal bills for the recovery of these funds and many will attempt to blame the new Road Commissioner.

While those who wish to cast blame on the new administration, we have one question to ask.

Why was no one bothered with Anna May Miller collecting $516,869.27 in salary and benefits in 5 years as an office worker?

Next article will cover additional compensation paid that was not allowed.

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Comments

Anna May Miller’s Vacation Pay in the Spotlight — 27 Comments

  1. Will that designer handbag go well with an orange jumpsuit ?

    Stay tuned …. tick tock, tick tock, time is running out for Anna May.

  2. @KnownExtremist

    Not to mention that it goes with her hair.

    Did she also moonlight as a clown someplace? (I mean, other than the County Board)

  3. The laws are for ‘little people’ not the powerful Millers!

  4. Theft Embezzlement whats the difference….

    they ended up with public money in their pockets….

    and it didn’y get there honestly..

    so why no let me rewrite that…

    WHY ARE THEY NOT IN JAIL….

  5. Nice pic and I’ll need a Disney expert here.

    Who’s nose is longer, Pinocchio’s or Miller?

  6. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/restricted
    restricted
    [ri-strik-tid]
    adjective
    confined; limited.
    Page one of the same policy manual is the normal gov disclaimer common in most gov documents:
    So at the discretion of the Highway Commissioner, vacations can be granted/taken year round.

    Kirk Allen misleading definition: “it can’t be taken”

  7. Well, there ya go. There’s nob, once again rewriting the English language to whatever he feels the meanings should convey. This is why he is such a huge idiot. This is the very same moron that will argue that the words of and from are identical and interchangeable. Try using a Thesaurus moron. Maybe you will get a sense for the flair of different shades of meanings. This is what we get from the indoctrination camps we call public schools: Believers of their complete entitlement while acting out as unprincipled morons.

  8. Our grammar Satan has spoken. Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meow, meow, meeeeeoooooowwwwwww…

  9. The Nob’s right on this one. Restricted, not prohibited.

    Many retail companies have this policy during holiday periods, even at their corporate HQ’s.

    For the road district, “restricted” makes sense.

    Imagine the reaction of the community if half the drivers were on vacation and a snow storm hit.

    It does still snow in McHenry during that period, right?

  10. Another gem from Kirk and company.

    The nob is right.

    Restricted does not mean not allowed at all.

    Also, she was an office assistant.

    Pretty sure the roads will still be cleared if snowstorm hit and she was on vacation.

    Another reach by Kirk and his minions.

  11. Wow. We have two complete morons following the head moron now. I had to read this piece over again to see why nob is insisting that Kirk said, “Not at all”. NOWHERE does it state what nob said. NOB is a LIAR! He is twisting this whole piece with his usual tap dancing BS and now we have total idiots backing him up on his fantasy accusations. Do you fools know how utterly stupid you are looking? Take your seats next to Angel. Not one of you morons even read or understood the argument made in this piece. Reading comprehension has nothing to do with making chit up. God bless/ss people like Kirk and his cohorts. You are certainly looking at a whole new can of worms if you think neanderthals will understand the value of principles.

  12. Cindy you are blind by choice.

    “In short, no vacation time can be accumulated, unused vacation is voided at the end of the fiscal year, and it can’t be taken between November 15 through April 15th.”

    It can, but it’s restricted, not can’t at all.

  13. It’s not uncommon, at the County at least, to have different vacation rules for office versus other workers.

    However, the accruing of vacation time rule would be the same for all.

    I assume this would be the same in the case above.

  14. NOB? You fool! Where the Hell do you even SEE “Not at all”? You made up that phrase! It doesn’t exist anywhere in this article. And your sockpuppets that agree are worthless. You are a total fool that just lives in a fantasy world of your own making.

  15. Cindy, he misrepresented the facts intentionally, he was being less than honorable.

    You are less than honorable to waltz on his behalf.

  16. nob? You are a fool. You cannot make stuff up and then attack the man over YOUR fantasy of what was said.

  17. I think the point of the article is she wasn’t entitled to get paid vacation pay at the time she did.

    So what? it’s just the people’s money.

    This Kirk Allen guy is a bit righteous, doesn’t he realize that with bob in office The friends and family plan worked.

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