Fired hospital workers get settlements

By Michael Mishak

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Clark County has paid $41,242 settlement packages to two workers it fired after they were charged with stealing from University Medical Center.

The county said the payments are justified because criminal charges against the two workers were later withdrawn, giving possible cause for the workers to sue the county for wrongful termination.

Authorities are still investigating and could file new charges. The two men, carpenter Sime Perkov and facilities worker Peter Panagos, each was paid more than $90,000 in 2007 before being arrested and fired in November.

They were charged along with two of the hospital’s managers in a 20-count criminal complaint filed by the Clark County district attorney’s office in November. In addition to theft of hospital property, the two workers were accused of constructing air-conditioning units — on the hospital clock — for a private business run by then-associate administrator Christopher Roth, who was also listed in the complaint.

Thomas Hutchinson, former UMC facilities director, faced theft charges as well, including allegedly stealing $500 worth of paint, a $399 designer toilet, an $8,000 commercial grade compressor and at least $2,500 worth of cabinets from the hospital. Also, he was accused of taking $761.61 worth of materials purchased by UMC and exchanging them at a Lowe’s home improvement store for gift cards.

Much of the employees’ efforts benefited Hutchinson’s personal residence, the complaint said. Roth resigned in June 2006 and Hutchinson resigned in April 2007.

The complaint was filed in November and the county fired Perkov and Panagos soon thereafter. County officials were outraged at the time.

“This kind of behavior is reprehensible,” county spokesman Dan Kulin said at the time. “It’s simply intolerable and it represents a serious violation of the public trust. We are encouraging prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”

But authorities later withdrew the charges and widened the scope of the investigation, which now includes outside contractors and vendors. That left county officials feeling legally vulnerable, especially when Perkov and Panagos began inquiring about their jobs, UMC spokeswoman Cheryl Persinger said.

“It was in both parties’ best interests to come to an agreement,” Persinger said. “At the time they had been arrested, and we made decisions based on that. But then the charges were dropped and we felt we needed to avoid some legal liability there.”

In 2007, Marlo Hodges, UMC’s chief operating officer, and Richard Powell, the hospital’s chief financial officer, received $53,195 and $36,544 respectively in severance packages when they were pressured to resign. Both men had been accused by police of helping UMC Chief Executive Lacy Thomas steer public money to friends through no-work contracts. Neither Hodges nor Powell was charged.

Kulin, the county spokesman, noted that settlements could ultimately save resources — financial and otherwise — involved in appeals and arbitration battles.

The county approved $41,242 settlement packages for Perkov and Panagos in April.

That figure, however, pales in comparison to the massive amounts of overtime pay they received while at the hospital. From 2002 to 2006, Perkov received $161,658 in overtime, according to an arrest warrant request police submitted to prosecutors last year. In 2006, he earned more in overtime ($65,052) than in base pay ($61,314). Panagos received $179,213 in overtime from 2002 to 2006, the document said.

In the first 11 months of 2007, Panagos earned $97,638, including $23,952 in overtime. During that same time period, Perkov made $92,240, including $15,703 in overtime.

County officials have said the big overtime payouts sent red flags — but to Hutchinson and Roth, who oversaw the facilities department. Overtime policies have since been revised.

For their part, police say the UMC facilities investigation is ongoing and widening. Perkov and Panagos are still targets of the probe, police said. Attorneys for both men have maintained their clients’ innocence.