After 37 years on the force, Lyndhurst Police Chief John Scalese decided to call it quits. Prompted by a political scuffle for control of the department, Scalese decided to take advantage of 499 days of unused sick, vacation, and compensatory time amassed during his career. Scalese's time off with pay is hardly uncommon. As public employees near retirement, many are given the choice under their terminal leave policies of redeeming their sick and vacation days for paid time off, or taking a lump-sum payout. How much time or money varies widely from town to town and employee to employee.
Employees are free to do anything from taking a cruise to watching the grandchildren while on leave.
And while there is no legal restriction barring employees from doing this, the practice has its critics, who contend that such policies are a drain on taxpayers. In some cases, the SCI found that employees were able to increase the size of their pensions by receiving pay raises and extending their years of service while on leave. A year into his leave, Scalese threatened to return to work, complaining that a pay raise he was offered while on terminal leave was too little. Since then, the township has changed its policy. Police can now redeem only up to 75 sick days when they retire.