Justice Center in downtown Cleveland

The Cleveland Municipal Court employees do not get paid when their health problems knock them out of work for an extended period of time. Judges and other elected officials get paid for every day they are sick - even when they are gone for months. Putting their perks in check is only fair to the other public employees -- and to taxpayers.

(Plain Dealer file)

Due to health problems, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Pauline Tarver was missing from the bench for nearly four consecutive months this year, beginning in February. In 2011, she missed three and half months of work.

Yet Tarver continued to receive her $114,000 annual salary while she was away. And under the outrageously generous rules that apply to public officials in Ohio, she was entitled to every penny.

Unlike public employees and many private-sector workers, elected officials – including judges – get paid for every day they are sick, no matter how long they are laid up.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy McDonnell needed a double lung transplant in 2009 when she was the court's presiding judge. She spent 251 days in the hospital – nearly nine months -- and another month at home before heading back part time until her strength returned. Her annual salary of $120,000 kept coming.

Former State Rep. Barbara Boyd of Cleveland Heights was confined to her home by health problems at the start of the 2013 legislative session that began in January. Boyd, who has since been forced out by term limits, maintained that she continued to work from a hospital bed in her living room. By mid July of that year, the legislator, who was paid $60,000 a year, had missed all 29 voting sessions. But she never missed a paycheck.

Elected officials, who get medical and retirement benefits, are not classified as employees. (State lawmakers don't get set vacation time, but they are not in session year around.)

Unlimited sick time is an extraordinary perk compared to other public workers. And it rivals the best private sector sick and disability policies.

The Cleveland Municipal Court employees do not get paid when their health problems knock them out of work for an extended period of time.

"The court provides medical leaves of absence without pay to eligible employees who are temporarily unable to work due to serious health condition, disability, or death of a family member," the court policy reads. "The employee is required to exhaust all accrued paid time, including sick, non-(overtime) compensatory time and vacation, with the exception of 40 hours of vacation by written request, prior to being placed on unpaid status."

I decided to highlight the difference between sick leave policies after asking Cleveland Municipal Court about Tarver's absences, which were being talked about in the courthouse. Court officials were slow to provide documentation of Tarver's time away from the bench and ultimately disclosed that the court does not track sick time of judges.

"Judges, like all elected officials, are paid an annual salary for which there is no deduction for sick time," court spokesman Ed Ferenc said in an email.

Tarver refused to talk to me. She said through Ferenc that during her 11 years on the bench she has never used her full six weeks of vacation that municipal court judges are allotted. (That's another great benefit.) Ferenc also noted that Tarver and other elected officials do not get to rollover vacation days as public employees are allowed to do. In other words, she forfeited those vacation days forever.

"In some years, she only took two weeks around the holidays," Ferenc said.

That's hardly a major sacrifice given all the other benefits that come with being a judge, including controlling their courtroom schedule and answering to no one on a day-to-day basis.

When judges are sick, court cases keep rolling in. During Tarver's absences, magistrates and the court's other judges picked up her workload. The court can argue her sick leave didn't cost taxpayers a penny since the court didn't need to hire a temporary judge, known as a visiting judge. That's great. But doesn't that raise the obvious question: Why does the court need 13 judges if it can absorb one judge's case load for so long?

When McDonnell was sick, the court hired a visiting judge to help pick up her workload.

I cannot fault any official for their health issues, especially for problems as serious as a double lung transplant. And I can't report any complaints about the work ethic of Tarver and McDonnell when they are healthy.

But we should fault elected officials who continue to allow such a benefit to remain on the books without scrutiny. I know that this column is unlikely to move lawmakers because they never pick their own pockets. But someone needs to.

Putting their perks in check is only fair to the other public employees -- and to taxpayers.

In the meantime, Tarver, who did not provide any details about her health, is making plans for her future. She is seeking re-election next year.