Ghost payroll suit may be refiled
A lawsuit charging ghost payrolling in an organization that supplies part-time firefighters for the Barrington Fire Department must be amended if it is to move forward, a Lake County judge ruled Thursday.
One current and two former paid-on-call firefighters for Barrington Fire Department Inc. say the nonprofit group has paid firefighters for emergency calls to which they did not respond.
Chuck Poliszczuk, a former member of the group's board of directors, claims he was fired in retaliation for his attempt to expose the alleged practice.
W. John Kolasinski Sr., also a former board member, resigned from his position, and Jeffrey Ruppert was suspended for six months after they also complained.
All three are suing the village of Barrington and Barrington Fire Department Inc. as well as Fire Chief James Arie, Deputy Chief John Feit and BFD Inc. board members Peter Mullally and Franz Mausser.
Attorneys for the defendants deny the claims of wrongdoing and succeeded in getting much of the lawsuit thrown out Thursday.
The three who filed the suit claim the practice of paying firefighters for work they do not perform is "rampant." But their lawsuit mentions only one specific example.
The three claim two paid-on-call firefighters, who make $12 to $19 an hour, were paid for working at a March 21, 2007, incident but that they were actually turned away because they did not have proper equipment.
The suit claims they documented attendance of paid-on-call firefighters from January to April 2007 and found numerous unspecified examples of people paid for work they did not do.
"It has been going on for years, and it is widely known," Ruppert said. "I even had a senior officer of the Barrington Fire Department admit to me that he knew about it."
In the suit, the trio claim they were harassed by other members of the nonprofit group and told to ignore the practice.
Kolansinski said he quit the organization May 1, 2007, to avoid being fired. Poliszczuk was fired and Ruppert was suspended on May 7, 2007.
They claim the group violated the state whistleblower protection act and they were wrongfully terminated.
But Molly O'Reilly, an attorney representing the village and its employees, and Steve Sandler, representing the nonprofit group, convinced Circuit Judge Margaret Mullen to throw out large portions of the suit Thursday.
The pair argued the village and the nonprofit, because it provides a public service, cannot be sued for claims the three are making because they are immune from such suits.
Kolansinski and Ruppert cannot make claims for wrongful termination, Mullen said, because they were not terminated.
Michael Gregg, an attorney for BFD Inc., said he had no comment on Thursday's ruling but that his clients are prepared to defend themselves if the suit is refiled.
"Our clients, Barrington Fire Department Inc., Mr. Mullally and Mr. Mausser, will vigorously contest and dispute the claims," Gregg said.
O'Reilly, the attorney representing the village, did not immediately return calls Thursday seeking comment.
Jeff Jacobsen, an attorney for the trio, said he will amend the suit and refile it.
"The fact is that we have ghost payrollers and that is illegal in this state," Jacobsen said. "These men are the people who found out about it and they are the only ones who suffered."