Three of Northampton County DA Steve Baratta's top clerical staff are currently on paid administrative leave. Human Resources is investigating whether the $80,000 in overtime they claimed over the last year was inflated in what amounts to possible theft by deception. If this is substantiated, the Attorney General will be notified. All because of a simple right-to-know request.
Early this year, one of the local dailies filed a right-to-know request, seeking the salaries of every county employee. It's a good space filler. In the past, I've been critical of LehighValleyLive, which likes to publish what local government workers are paid, by name and wages. I've argued that just because you can file a right-to-know for this kind of information does not mean you should. Sure, I'd support publication of the highest salaries paid but consider publication of how little money is paid to most public employees is a bit intrusive. I was wrong. It is precisely because of such an inquiry that county officials discovered that top clerical officials in the NorCo DA's office may have been receiving overtime to which they had no right.
One of these top clerks authorized the OT paid to two others. Her own overtime must be approved by the DA or First Assistant, but she may have disguised what she was seeking. The amount paid to her in 2024 was nearly as much as her own salary.
She also claimed about $8,000 in OT in 2023, but administration officials concluded this extra work might have been necessary as the result of a transition from former DA Terry Houck to current DA Steve Baratta.
I happen to know and respect all three of these clerks. If these allegations are true, it is very disappointing, especially in an office charged with the responsibility of enforcing criminal law.
Because this is a personnel matter, there is no point in asking Executive Lamont McClure or District Attorney Steve Baratta exactly what is happening. But I've substantiated this story from current and former employees whose names must remain confidential.
It is important to note that these are county employees but are under the direct supervision and control of the District Attorney, an independently elected office.
53 comments:
Wow, caught by an easy RTK request for a “space-filler” article.
Isn’t this something that a competent county executive or dare I say Controller should have caught as part of their routine procedures?
Surely others who cover county affairs should also have made this easy catch. That is, if they weren’t so distracted by writing glowing articles about the county politicians they like.
Now multiply this by all the various governmental agencies in the commonwealth and other states and the federal government. Its a story as old as the flood. I would hazard a guess that 50% of all expenditures in some shape or form is, sorry to use the term "Waste, Fraud & Abuse"
Someone call Elon! We need to get to the bottom of this! We need a NorCo DOGE.
It seems Mr Barratta doesn’t have a clue what’s going on in his office! He must just sign everything put in front of him.
It's a DOGE new world. Government thieves and money wasters must be stopped, from local to state to federal abuses. Taxpayers worked hard for that money and expect that it's honestly spent.
Government on all levels are very much full of fraud and abuse our system of government breeds these people on a very high basis.
Confidential? LOL
Whose responsibility is it in the DA’s office to oversee these hours/pays? Is it Baratta or Eyer?
this further solidifies why a DOGE concept is needed in government. This is done on a smaller level at a county level. Can you imagine what happens at a federal level?
What a shame. I hope this isn't true. The employees I have had the pleasure of working with at the Courthouse are good, decent and dedicated employees. They go out of their way to help and assist you. What a shame. I hope this isn't true.
Maybe Lehigh Valley Live should look into some of the items being paid to a few of the higher ranking members of police administration in the Bethlehem Police Department. Compensation they shouldn't be receiving but they are to artificially increase their pensions.
3:07, Actually, it should not happen as OT must be authorized. One of the persons accused of abusing OT is the one who approved it for two employees. She was unable to approve her own OT, but got it approved by a supervising attorney who may have been misled or who may have thought it was warranted.
Remember, we don't know that OT was actually abused. I know these three employees and would be very shocked if this turns out to be true. It is serious enough though that they all are on leave with pay.
6:32, Without question, there is government waste. But the solution is not massive cuts to vital services or vital personnel. You don't take a sledgehammer to the problem and lay off nuclear workers or cut all grants in violation of agreements and acts of Congress.
Assuming that this is true, and we don't know that it is, there is simply no way, in the final analysis, to stop perfidy. We can set up all kinds of checks and balances, and government does, but in the end, there will be those who find ways around it.
Actually, the chatter in the courthouse halls is that Eyer signed off on this. He’s a great guy, but not a good look for someone running for judge.
Also, sounds like the victim advocate’s hours are legit as her assistant’s husband had a stroke hence the additional work on her desk.
The office manager also has another job at one of the large home improvement stores. How is she making all this time for OT hours?
Amy, Concentrate on getting signatures instead of demonstrating your ignorance. You’ll barely qualify for the ballot and then you’ll be slaughtered. And, your “political career” will be over.
Its not that big of an office Baratta should know what's going on but doesn't care, just collecting a check to add to his two pensions. The good old boys will protect his incompetence. Baratta has done nothing the past year except give big pay raises, and is silent on county immigration issues
6:32 I would agree. Having knowledge about local City and County they are unwilling to implement systems to make them more efficient. Instead they choose the “this is how it’s always been done” mentality. There is really no care or accountability about waste.
I pay tax dollars in NorCo. If true, those involved should be terminated.
I received an anonymous comment that I have edited to exclude an attempt to identify the three persons: "Barrata! He gave FULL control to the “XXXXXX”, XX. Terry made the same egregious mistake and paid the price for that. She, the XXXXXX is a horrible person and ran MANY great clerks out of that office. This was a DEI hire, not based on merit, unfortunately. Her assistant, XX, was no better. We paid these two to walk around the courthouse for years, gossiping about what went on in the D.A.’s office, all lies, as if they were something special. It was despicable and disgusting, and everyone knew it. The third person, XX, did not in any way abuse overtime. One of her co-workers were out of the office on family leave for five months. Her overtime is justified and pales in comparison to the other two."
Do not try to name these people or throw hints unless you are willing to ID yourself.
Bob Eyer had nothing to do with this. Baratta gave full control to his office manager and signed off on whatever she put in front of him, putting too much faith in her, and not verifying or questioning. Keep the focus and the blame where it belongs. That is, Baratta and the three clerks.
I worked in that office with those people for a little over a year. The ringleader and her bestie were horrible gossips and treated the staff so terribly. They have run off not only myself but plenty of other clerks that started around the same time I did. In fact I took the place of one of the clerks that she ran off that had started working before me. The ringleader didn't respect her employees at all, spent lots of time on the phone and hired her "friends" instead of qualified people most of the time. Her turnover rate is outrageous. She had been reported to HR and to the Union MULTIPLE times and no one ever did anything about it. She had another job at Home Depot so I'm not sure how she'd even have time to do all this alleged overtime. She doesn't know how to do most of the jobs in the office and forces the clerical staff to work multiple jobs until she finds replacements for the people she forces out and then blames the staff for not working hard enough. She was overdue to get pushed out of that position of power. Good riddance and I hope that office is free of her and her narcissistic, power hunger, greedy, overbearing ways forever.
Everyone saw what they did to Terry. After that Baratta could not possibly think those 2 clerical people would be loyal to him. Also, let’s respect the 3rd person and stop referring to her as clerical. She is completely separate from them, in a totally different unit. Her OT was justified, everyone knows that.
I’m usually not critical of Bernie or his blog due in large part to the service provided at no cost to the community. Unfortunately, though, I am disappointed that Mr. O’Hare has largely ignored the bungling of the DA’s office by a bully DA, a first deputy who took the gig, it now seems, for ulterior motives, and a former judge pulled from retirement to sooth egos. There have been plenty of comments on this blog during the last year that point to a department in disarray. From accusations of long-time prosecutors stepping out early, fraternizing with staff members, and demotions, commenters have pointed a finger at a mismanaged office. Unfortunately, no follow-up on any of these posts.
We do not need Doge thety is the democrats view.
There is a full-time ADA robbing the county of time too. This ADA never returns calls or emails and if you stop by after a certain time to catch this ADA in person, that ADA is gone for the day. I’ve recently experienced this on a case I have with this ADA, but apparently it’s a running joke amongst those “in the know” that this ADA does it because the ADA can get away with it and has been doing it for years.
"county immigration issues" Yeah, because a State Court of Common Pleas does a lot of immigration cases...
There is more fraud in this country than one would know but it is not only in government it is in all types of organizations. More fraud than good.
Cannot trust anybody period when it comes to money.
If I’m reading that comment correctly, inserting the appropriate word in place of xxxxxx, that is an utterly disgusting comment. And I hope the person who made the comment has their identity disclosed via court process.
Bernie, love the new look were is Morganelli's DOGE when they are needed? Trump should be sending Musk's DOGE to be looking into the waste, fraud as well as out right theft of services in the valley, this is not even mentioning insider trading that goes right up to the state!
We DO need a sledgehammer...because the waste in government is like a concrete wall.
Let me guess? You think the XXXXX comment was a racial slur, right? Sorry to disappoint, it was not. Not even close. Go cry about something else.
The words in place of the XXXXXXX were the job title and initials of the first and last name of an employee, making it possible to identify her. There was no racial slur.
Where was sleepy Lamont while these alleged crimes were being committed? I suspect he knew and said nothing. Everything in the county needs the DOGE treatment. Taxpayers are being robbed.
Bring in President Musk!
ATTN: EVERY SINGLE CLERICAL SECRETARY IN THE DA OFFICE WAS OFFERED OVER TIME!!
STOP PORTRAYING THESE HARD WORKING WOMEN AS OVERTIME THIEVES!
These employees went out to their way to mentor and train new employees. It clear these three employees were offered the work load and slack of the whole dept. because they had years of experience and legal knowledge to do the work correctly on OT. The high turn over rate in this office is not due to the way the office is run or the staff personalities. It has to do with the office moral work load and pay not being equivalent to the work load. EVERYONE KNOWS The County low balls public servants! EVERYONE SPEAK CAN ATTEST TO THIS TRUTH!
It is so UNPROFESSIONAL of the DA office and HR to leak an on going investigation without even concluding what happens!! I can’t imagine how they handle real criminal on going investigations for this matter to become public gossip consumption. Accusations, defaming and slandering hard working career women to the point if and when they return to the office…. they should have their names cleared!! To treat them as criminal in the eyes of public and gossip throughout out the court house is a SHAME!
It is OBVIOUS someone is being SPITEFUL and trying to destroy these three families’ lives. You want them to do the extra work and you don’t want to pay them! Sounds like UNJUST ENRICHMENT by the COUNTY!! Punishing these taxpaying women what a shame!
It is OBVIOUS someone is being SPITEFUL and trying to destroy these three families’ lives. You want them to do the extra work and you don’t want to pay them! Sounds like UNJUST ENRICHMENT by the COUNTY!! Punishing these taxpaying women what a shame!
You’re making unfound allegations and conclusions about hard working people! Think about the EMOTIONAL and PHYSICAL and MENTAL stress they are going through because they are INNOCENT and did all that HARD WORK! To be thrown under the bus and called into question their whole career and livelyhoods how immoral and unjust is that! The whole county is aware of the hard work they do! THE DA SHOULD STAND BY HIS EMPLOYEES!
It is reasonably foreseeable that any threats of force resignation or demotion is clearly retaliation and public pressure! If the DA fires these three women, HR knows & the County that this is WRONGFUL TERMINATION!! The DA should know better to stand by and back is team 100%! WE THE PEOPLE APPROVE THIS MESSAGE!
Every head supervisor in every dept. in that court house knows how hard these ladies work & go above and beyond to help not only their dept. but other depts as well to keep the DA office afloat!
Every employee from staff all the way up to the Judges themselves walk around gossiping in that court house!
First of all, this article is not based on facts! It is all HEAR SAY! It appears the comment section is gossiping and slandering and defaming these three hard working county employees! What happened to the rule of law! INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY!!
We the people have the right to know! Who filed the right to know request? Name the individual who made these false allegations and started the inquiry. He or she probably was let go for failure and incompetency. This appears to be employment retaliation. HR has a history of trying to accuse these hard working minority women and trying to get rid of them.
Those defending the last DA administration everyone is aware he intentionally backed up the work and his last team shredded everything and left! How did this DA expect the work to be done magically without paying these clerical specialists? Everyone in that court house knows the way the county HR and payroll is done is so unprofessional. Those depts are incompetent in handling any matters they always drop the ball. They alone should be investigated.
These employee being accused for “OT theft” BS sounds fishy to me. There is a history of bullying these employees because their work ethic , character and knowledge speak volumes!
If anything, the COUNTY actually SAVED MONEY by making these clerical specialists cover multiple positions!! The proof is in the pudding. It’s common knowledge the Adult probation dept or Pre-trail services dept. The HARD work was taken from their dept and assigned to the DA’s office! The county shifted and added the extra work load on to these employees that JUSTIFIES THE SALARIES!! Duh they were reasonably paid for their OT work! HR should present the County records!
Which brings me to this current “investigation.” The People who should be investigated are the county and HR and the payroll dept for their lack of oversight! Clearly, these departments did not do their jobs. HR’s job when a new DA administration comes into transition and office should have notified the office staff regarding OT laws and payroll. If HR claims the defense that OT rules are in the county rule books, that is BS because HR failed to train the new administrative staff. The moment the three employees worked too much OT, the Payroll & HR dept. should have caught it and FLAGGED IT!! Clearly, HR and Payroll did not!! They failed to create protocols and procedures and reasonably notify these employees. Now these three employees are being penalized for lack of oversight and being thrown under the bus!! How does that make any reasonable sense?
First of all, anything this investigation proves is lack of oversight in that whole court house & the buck stops with the DA In his own house. The DA should have been allocating the OT and assigning the work load and not placing all the work on these clerical specialists. The county failed to its job by not placing safe guards or protocols or procedure in place to notify these employees that were violating any FLSA OT Laws period! How are these ADA lawyers/ future judicial candidates signing off payroll documents without reading? That is mind blowing!! Just imagine how legally incompetent he must be to sign off payroll and not tell his clerical staff they are working too much OT. He should be held accountable for his lack of oversight instead of accusing these women for unfounded allegations of OT misconduct. They clearly did the work! The proofs in the office & courts running smoothly! The chain of command all signed off on OT , and these ladies produced the work they were reasonable compensated! Applaud them for cleaning up your clerical back log!!
Secondly, when the employees work everything checks out from time work spent to the physical work product they produced! The work volume in that office alone is horrible! The last administration team shredded destroyed and left everything bare bones. These employees had to relay the foundation and the frame work for this DA. The DA himself even said to the public in his opening remarks that last DA administration created such horrible backlog of work! Who did he think was doing the grunt work on OT?
Third, it appears the employees were clearly over worked and under paid. The office was clearly understaffed which was publicly acknowledge by the DA himself. This DA was clearly aware and on notice of the work load. Basically, penalizing and throwing smart harding working women under the bus. It is obvious these women have been multi tasking. That’s what happens when the county & DA office do budget cuts and downsizes and short staffs the office. Work load and priorities fell on these clerical specialists. Stop painting them as OT thieves when it’s a well known fact in that office everyone was equally offered OT!
Fourth: Overworked and underpaid employees. The work load assigned was equivalent to the work load produced. The DA was aware of the work getting done and the office running smoothly.
Fifth: This is nothing more than a political WITCH HUNT!! The DA should use his common sense! It appears more of a political attack on the DA office so it can cripple and get rid of his hard working dedicated public service working employees! The chain of command to claim they were not aware of signing OT is utter nonsense! How is OT payroll sign off going through so many channels? These women are victims of poor incompetent leadership oversight and being persecuted!
Sixth: For the gossiping trolls in the comment sections, you sound like were fired or let go during probation period for being incompetent and insubordinate which is probably well documented.
They clearly listened to their chain of command and were assigned OT and work was produced, and there is evidence to show and prove it!
Clearly, the chain of command was aware of the work load and now playing ignorant that he had no idea! Ignorance is not a defense! The work was done and produced which was equivalent to the hours worked and paid! HELLO, NO ONE WORKS FOR FREE!!
As for this article to say “Theft of Services” and try to involve the “Attorney Generals office”, it is a well known fact in the DA office that the entire department was offered OT. Those other clerical staff some did OT based on their experience while other clerical staff outright refused to do OT. How is the allegation “theft of service” when they produced the work!? BASELESS ALLEGATIONS! TOTALLY FALSE & FAKE NEWS!
Seems all is not well in Norco DA land on so many different fronts. Well, you get what you vote for.
“Offered the work load and slack of the whole department?” That actually made me laugh. I’d beg to differ. Considering most of the time it was useless going to the people involved for assistance, without being led in the wrong direction or being told to ask someone else for help. The office manager was good at one thing, delegating and handing off her own work to everyone else. How In the world is someone handling the office workload when they don’t even know how to assist their staff? It’s also ‘funny’ how in the absence of these two super human clerical staff workers the office seems to be running smoother than ever, without even skipping a beat.. isn’t that something?!? if there was so much over time needed to run an efficient office.. then HOW is the office surviving (actually, THRIVING) in their absence? Speaking of OT, most often clerical staff was told NO or 4 hours max per week. We understand it may be embarrassing to be publicly ousted but working within the DA’s office you MUST know that people, criminals.. such as the two involved, eventually get what’s coming to them. To use the clerical staff, the hardworking Clerical staff, as your scapegoat is actually disgusting. And frankly unbelievable.
Here comes the minority based lawsuit
Can’t wait to find out who is going to represent the ringleader of this fiasco
All the issues in the office point to one individual and it is not the DA
The Courthouse is already better off with her absence
10:27 pm: Please calm down because I am concerned that you have become so worked up over this post. The RTK request was made by The Express-Times for its salary issue (so-to-speak) and the OT happened to be discovered with that. While I can’t speak for Bernie, I don’t think leaks were involved, rather a simple connecting of the dots. Bernie is highly supportive of the three in question and most posting on this article (and others associated with DA matters) point the finger at Baratta. In fact, I think most people see the DA for what he is — a phony who turns on people, fears those who know more than he, and has demoted veterans, while making questionable hires. I hope when the internal investigation concludes, all will be vindicated. Well, all except the DA.
Looks like one of the culprits has entered the chat
You work in the building. You know darn well that HR and the DA didn't leak it. You took part in gossiping about the goings on, now you're a part of it and you don't like it. Your coworkers that were sick of your bs started it, and like all things it spread like wildfire.
Could it possibly be the investigation is due to overtime being paid to these employees for hours NOT actually worked…. I don’t believe that you need to be trained by HR or payroll department not to steal overtime compensation
$80,000 is nothing. A simple RTK at the City of Allentown would make this story laughable. Employees make more in overtime than their base salary, everyone knows it and the dumb Finance Director does nothing because that’s how she manipulates staff to do what she wants and keeps her the FD. A textbook example of Quid pro Quo
Damn imagine if the offenders put in this much work in OT as this poster did in writing this
Sounds like it’s a job scoping issue then of the job, salary and actual requirements. It seems like the leaders need to rescope the job for what it actually is and build that into the timesheets , salaries and payroll then.
Post a Comment