Opinion ID: 504646
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Robles's Salary Arrangements and Responsibilities

Text: 16 When Wagner left Rubin's employ in October 1982, she was replaced by Robles. In Robles's job interview, Rubin informed her that she would be put on the Assembly payroll. He also assured her that she would earn more working with him than she had in her previous job, though it might not appear to be so, because part of her salary would be off-the-books payments from the QDO and would not be taxable. 17 Initially, Robles replaced Wagner on Cohen's Assembly payroll, and Cohen provided the same type of documentation for Robles that he had for Wagner. Cohen was defeated for reelection in the 1982 Democratic primary, however, and Rubin got Assembly member Lipshutz to place Robles on her payroll beginning in 1983; he secured for Lipshutz a budget increase to cover Robles's salary. Lipshutz filed documentation indicating that Robles worked in 1983 for the Assembly Steering Committee and in 1984-86 for the Assembly Subcommittee on Casino Gambling; Lipshutz also signed the biweekly Personnel Service Vouchers for Robles indicating that she was performing her duties. 18 In fact, Robles did no work at all for Cohen and none for Lipshutz prior to 1986, when political events and public attention prompted Rubin and Lipshutz to alter their arrangements. Prior to the change, Robles spent most of her time managing Rubin's law office and doing paralegal-type work on his guardianships and conservatorships, and most of the remainder of her time doing QDO work. She estimated that only 2% of her time was spent on Assembly work. 19 In the meantime, the Assembly was paying approximately half her salary. In 1983, 1984, and 1985, for example, Robles's total salary ranged from approximately $18,000 to $20,000. In those years the amounts paid by the Assembly were approximately $9,000, $10,000, and $9,500, respectively. Robles's pay checks were mailed from Albany to Lipshutz's district office; at Rubin's instruction, Lipshutz's administrative assistant mailed the checks to Rubin's office in plain, non-Assembly envelopes. All other checks were mailed from Lipshutz's office in Assembly envelopes. 20 During these years, Robles received approximately $5,000 to $6,000 per year from the QDO. Because Rubin had told her she would not have to report the QDO payments as income, Robles was surprised that the payments were made by check rather than in cash. She asked Rubin to clarify the tax status of these payments; he told her the money was nontaxable because it was political funds and that she would not receive an IRS W-2 or 1099 form. In 1983, when she was preparing her 1982 tax returns, Robles again raised the subject with Rubin, who emphasized, with a show of anger and annoyance, that Robles was not required to declare those payments as income. Rubin offered to have his accountant prepare Robles's returns as he had done for Wagner, but Robles declined. Robles did not report on her 1982, 1983, and 1984 income tax returns the amounts she received from QDO; she reported some, but not all, of the amount she received in 1985. 21 In early 1986, as allegations of political corruption in Queens began attracting public attention, a news article identified Robles as a no-show Assembly employee who actually served as Rubin's private secretary. Accordingly, Rubin instructed Robles that she would have to work for Lipshutz, and she began to spend two-to-three hours, two or three days a week, at Lipshutz's office. Rubin promptly complained that Lipshutz was giving Robles too much work. 22 When investigators began to question Robles, she became nervous, notwithstanding Rubin's reassurances that she should not worry because she was now working for Lipshutz and that she could cure any problem related to QDO by paying her back taxes on the amounts previously undeclared. In June 1986, Robles resigned from her jobs with Rubin and the Assembly.