HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Hartford city officials are investigating how a sanitation worker collected paychecks that improperly doubled his salary for four years.
Driver Manuel A. Garcia, who started working for the city in 1995, began collecting paychecks that doubled his $750 weekly wage in 2003, city officials said.
The Hartford Courant reported Saturday that Garcia reported the overage on his first paycheck, but continued to cash the checks when the problem wasn’t corrected. City officials said he appears to have been paid his weekly wage plus the equivalent of his salary in sick time.
The city’s internal auditor and corporation counsel’s office are investigating the matter while Garcia continues to work. He could be ordered to pay back as much as $157,000.
“We are waiting for the auditors to give us all the facts, and then we will proceed accordingly,” Santiago Malave, the city’s director of human resources and labor relations, said Friday.
Garcia is a member of the municipal workers’ union, Local 1716 of Council 4 AFSCME. He could not be reached for comment, but Larry Dorman, spokesman for the union, said the union was aware of the situation.
“We will work with Mr. Garcia and the city to resolve this situation equitably,” Dorman said Friday.
AP-ES-06-23-07 1141EDT
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