LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs paid the former administrator of the Little Rock Veterans Home $150,000 late Monday and released a letter exonerating her of wrongdoing at the home, turning her termination into a resignation.
The payment and letter were part of a settlement agreement drawn up Dec. 11 after Janet Levine filed a wrongful-termination and discrimination lawsuit against former agency director David Fletcher, his deputy, Lawrence Pickard, and Cissy Rucker, who was named Fletcher’s replacement over the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs after the governor removed him as director in May.
The settlement had to be approved by Richard Weiss, director of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration and the Joint Budget Committee of the state Legislature before it could be executed. That happened earlier this month.
On Tuesday, the day after receiving the settlement money and letter that rescinded her firing, Levine withdrew her lawsuit from Pulaski County Circuit Court, thereby completing the settlement agreement.
“This has been very difficult for all of us, and I am glad it has been resolved,” Rucker said in an e-mail Tuesday to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “Both the Agency and Ms. Levine can move forward now.”
Levine was fired by Fletcher in April and blamed for the illegal collection of more than $600,000 in fees from the Little Rock Veterans Home’s most disabled residents from 2009 to 2012. A federal regulation change increased the federal funding for care of war veterans with 70 percent or more service-related disability andprohibited the collection of additional fees for the care of those veterans.
Levine’s termination letter asserted that she knowingly broke the law and also used veterans home supplies for personal use.
Both claims were disproved through the appeal process, but her termination was upheld based on previously resolved issues - including using a state vehicle for personal business - not included in her termination letter or documentation.
An investigation after Levine’s firing last year revealed that Levine was not responsible for the collection of fees as administrator of the home. The fees were collected by the Veterans Affairs Department. E-mails uncovered through a Freedom of Information Request by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette revealedthat Fletcher and Pickard both knew the $600,000 in fees had been collected illegally.
Fletcher testified before a congressional committee in March 2012 that such fees were necessary to keep the home operating. Gov. Mike Beebe asked for Fletcher’s resignation in May, within two weeks of Levine’s termination, and named Rucker his successor.
The wording of the letter Rucker wrote to Levine was part of the settlement agreement. It said:
“I have reviewed the matter of your termination and concluded that the evidence is insufficient to substantiate the reasons given for your termination in David Fletcher’s memorandum dated April 26, 2012. In particular, the documentationdoes not support the accusation that you willfully, wantonly, and intentionally collected maintenance fees in violation of federal law. In addition, the other accusations contained in the letter are similarly without merit. Accordingly, the agency has removed the termination letter from your personnel file, and it is accepting your resignation effective April 26, 2012.”
Levine agreed not to seek future employment at the Veterans Affairs Department as well as dropping the lawsuit.
David Sterling, Levine’s lawyer, called Rucker’s letter the “most important” part of the settlement.
“The statement fully exonerates Janet Levine of all the false allegations lodged against her by former Director David Fletcher, including the illegal collection of maintenance fees from severely disabled veterans who resided at the Little Rock Veterans Home during his tenure.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 01/30/2013