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

Heading: Wagner's Salary Arrangements and Responsibilities

Text: 10 Wagner testified that she was hired by Rubin in mid-1980 to be the secretary in his law office. He told her that when the Assembly went into session in 1981, she would be placed on its payroll. Either in the job interview or soon after she was hired, Rubin assured her that, although her total salary would be somewhat less than her salary in her previous position, her total take-home pay would be higher because the portion of her salary that came from the QDO would not be taxed. 11 In January 1981, Wagner was placed on the Assembly payroll as an employee of Assemblyman Cohen, an attorney and personal friend of Rubin with whom Rubin shared, inter alia, clients, business ventures, and an apartment. Rubin obtained an Assembly budget increase for Cohen to cover Wagner's salary; Cohen submitted Personnel Action forms stating that Wagner was on his office staff and signed Personnel Service Vouchers every two weeks indicating that Wagner was performing the work of an administrative aide in 1981 and a junior administrative assistant in 1982. Wagner submitted employment applications in 1981 and 1982, and signed certificates of Continuing Performance, representing that she was actually working on Cohen's staff during those years. 12 In fact, Wagner did virtually no work for Cohen. Cohen stated that Wagner worked for him a few times; she testified that she worked for him only once. Nor did Wagner spend any significant amount of time on Assembly matters for Rubin. Rather, she estimated that she spent about 80% of her time doing paralegal-type work on guardianships and conservatorships held by Rubin. Nearly all the rest of her time was spent on QDO matters. Only about 1% of her time was spent on Assembly matters, principally taking and relaying telephone messages. 13 In 1981, Wagner was paid a total salary of $16,300; of this amount, $7,500 was paid by the Assembly. She worked for Rubin until October 1982. In 1982, her annual salary level was $17,700, of which the Assembly was to pay approximately $9,000. Her Assembly paychecks were mailed from Albany to Cohen's office in Queens. 14 In those years, Wagner also received, respectively, $5,300 and $4,100 from the QDO. Relying on Rubin's 1980 representations to her, she did not report these amounts on her income tax returns. Those returns were prepared for her by Rubin's accountant, without charge to Wagner. 15