Baltimore paid $312,000 to employees who stopped working, IG finds

Baltimore paid city employees more than $312,000 for hours that were largely unworked as part of their separation from City Hall, an investigation by the city’s inspector general found.

About half of the total payments were made to employees of the mayor’s office, according to a report issued Tuesday by Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming.

Cumming found five employees, ranging in tenure from six months to four years, who each received “permission leave” before they formally separated from city employment in 2025. Such leave allows an employee to remain on the payroll, accrue leave, and maintain health insurance.

After their separation from the city, the employees, none of whom were named, were eligible to receive payouts for unused vacation and sick leave.

One employee who worked for the mayor’s office for just six months was paid for four months after their departure, totaling $62,309, according to the report. On the opposite end of the spectrum, an employee who worked more than four years with the city received 67 days of permission leave and was paid for two holidays, totaling $22,114.

Officials with Mayor Brandon Scott’s office argued that two of the five employees were agency employees and not part of the mayor’s office.

The payments do not appear to have violated city policy, however Cumming said in her report that the spending could be perceived as “inequitable or wasteful.”

“Many frontline employees typically would not receive a separation agreement or an extended separation upon their departure from city employment,” she said.

Cumming recommended that the city develop policies on permission and administrative leave as well as separation agreements.

In a response, City Administrator Faith Leach argued that administrative leave — the city’s preferred term for permission leave since 2021 — is a “well-established process” used as a reward for employees or to allow an absence to attend health and wellness events.

The leave is also used to settle separations, a practice that’s “common and standard” across industries, Leach argued. In those instances, having discretion to award leave on a case-by-case basis is “paramount to the city’s ability to manage employee separations and other employment matters in such a way that protects the integrity of operations and ensures the most efficient use of city resources,” she said.

Leach conceded that city attorneys as well as officials from human resources and the Office of the Labor Commissioner will conduct a review of leave policies to ensure that they are fair and equitable.

The report is Cumming’s latest and was delivered amid a dispute with Scott. The pair have been sparring over Cumming’s access to records since early this year when Scott’s administration cut off her office’s direct access to a wide range of materials, citing attorney-client and work product privileges as well as the Maryland Public Information Act.

Cumming took the issue to court, asking a judge to force Scott’s team to fulfill subpoenas. The case is pending, but last month the judge overseeing it called the administration’s position “concerning.”

Last week, Scott’s office rolled out a proposal calling for local and state legislative action to increase oversight of Cumming’s office and inspectors general across Maryland.

In a note atop her latest investigation, Cumming said it was completed in early February before her direct access to city records was cut.

Cumming’s report found that administrative or permission leave was also paid outside the mayor’s office. Two agency directors, one with 12 years of service and another with two, were paid for a total of 42 days in permission leave. The payments totaled $32,668.

Since January 2024, eight more employees from various city agencies, some beyond the mayor’s purview, also received permission leave in conjunction with their separations. Those payments totaled $76,615.