Due to a recent court order, Luzerne County’s Retirement Board must hold a public hearing next month about former Children and Youth director Joanne Van Saun’s county pension request, officials said Tuesday.
The retirement board had unanimously voted in February 2022 to deny Van Saun’s county pension, which had been calculated at $4,467.23 per month largely due to her 36 years of county employment.
Van Saun, of Dallas, had been sentenced in December 2021 to 34 months of probation for misdemeanor child endangerment and obstruction offenses, with the first nine months on house arrest, related to her failure to investigate at least 217 reports alleging child abuse and neglect in 2017.
Months after rejecting the pension, the board unanimously voted last July to refund Van Saun $88,319.53 in payments she had made toward her pension — without interest.
In response, Van Saun filed a civil complaint last August against the county pension system and retirement board over the pension denial.
Under the state’s Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act, former employees are not eligible for a pension or interest on their contributions toward a pension if they are convicted of certain crimes related to their employment, officials have said.
Van Saun’s civil complaint argued the offenses to which she pleaded guilty did not fall under the definitions of those allowing pension forfeiture under the state act.
Through outside legal counsel, the retirement board maintained Van Saun is legally required to exhaust all administrative remedies rather than bringing the action before the court, the filing said.
Following a review of the preliminary objections and extensive briefing, county Court of Common Pleas Judge Richard M. Hughes III issued an order ruling the court does not have jurisdiction over the matter at this time.
Hughes dismissed the complaint without prejudice and remanded the matter to the retirement board.
The judge directed the board to hold a hearing providing “an opportunity for plaintiff to be heard,” the order said.
The board must then prepare a written adjudication determination stating its findings and reasons, it said.
During Tuesday’s retirement board meeting, board Solicitor Donald G. Karpowich said arrangements have been made to secure a stenographer for the hearing as required by the court order.
The hearing will be held at 4 p.m. on Friday, May 5, in the council meeting room at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, Karpowich said.
Pension fund status
In other business Tuesday, pension fund advisor Richard Hazzouri, of Morgan Stanley, reported the county’s employee pension fund ended the first quarter of 2023 with a value of nearly $279.6 million.
The year-to-date return was 3.83% through March 31, Hazzouri told the board.
Investment earnings boosted the fund by $10.4 million in the first quarter. In addition, the fund covered $5.6 million in payments to retirees during the first three months of 2023, he said.
Hazzouri stressed the first-quarter figures are preliminary and expected to improve when remaining earnings from hedge funds and other alternative investments are fully processed and factored in.