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March 31, 2006

Attorney General questions Judge Yashar's pension

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch is questioning the legality of the decision that gave retired Traffic Tribunal Judge Marjorie R. Yashar credit for eight months she spent on unpaid leave in 2005 when court officials calculated her pension.

Lynch is urging the Rhode Island Supreme Court to examine whether Yashar truly qualified for the $120,310 annual pension she is now receiving.

“State law clearly states that former Judge Yashar is not entitled to have the eight months she spent on unpaid leave calculated into her pension benefits,” Lynch said in a statement issued today. “To heap an extra serving of this proportion on a plate that’s fully funded by the taxpayers of Rhode Island is not only costly and offensive, but wrong, under the law. It’s imperative that former Judge Yashar’s pension is adjusted to reflect her actual service to the state during her employment.”

Court officials have said that according to their interpretation of state law, they had no choice but to give Yashar credit based solely on when she started and ended her service.

Read more on this issue.

Read letters between state officials and Yashar regarding her pension.

-- With reports by Journal staff writer Scott Mayerowitz

Posted by Kate Bramson  at 4:18 PM | Permalink