Judge: Santa Rosa school employee won't have to return salary

A former Santa Rosa school payroll clerk and board candidate will not be required to return a $5,000 overpayment claimed by the district after she resigned.

That’s the ruling of Sonoma County Superior County Judge Arthur Wick in the case of former Bellevue Union School District employee Adele Walker.

District officials last year sued Walker in small claims court for an overpayment they said was discovered in an investigation of her demands for $18,000 in overtime.

During an analysis of records, they discovered Walker, who was in charge of payroll, had ?received too much money, Superintendent Alicia Henderson ?said.

The district sought the maximum amount of $5,000 allowed by the court, although her overpayment was estimated at $6,800, Henderson said.

But in a ruling received by the district last week, Wick ruled Walker would not have to pay, Henderson said. The judge provided no explanation for the decision.

“The district certainly believed she was overpaid but we will respect the ruling of the court,” Henderson said Monday.

Walker’s lawyer, Jarin Beck, said it was a vindication for his client, who he said was the target of retaliation after she announced her candidacy for the school board. She lost the November election by a narrow margin.

“It was Adele’s position that Alicia wanted to set a precedent - you don’t go against me,” Beck said Monday.

Henderson denied the small claims suit was politically motivated and said the dispute with Walker started months before she announced she was running for office.

She said Walker was a district employee for about 15 years when she quit in May of 2013. At the time, district officials noted irregularities in the payroll system she oversaw, Henderson said.

Not long after Walker left, she sent the district a claim for thousands of dollars she said Bellevue owed her for working at home and on weekends.

The district launched an investigation and determined under the most liberal calculation, Walker was owed $900, Henderson said.

Further investigation revealed Walker had been compensated at the wrong rate over a 10-month period, Henderson said.

All told, the district said Walker owed $6,800, she said.

The district sued to prevent a “gift of public funds,” Henderson said.

Walker, 58, said her wages had been approved in writing by the previous superintendent. She presented the document as evidence at her Aug. 12 hearing.

“I felt that the judge heard the facts and saw through all the ?ridiculousness of it,” Walker said.

Walker, who is now employed as a payroll technician at the Wright Elementary School District in Santa Rosa, said she will run again for the Bellevue school board in 2016.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @ppayne.