IRVINGTON, NJ — Former Irvington Police Chief Michael Chase alleges that the township of Irvington still owes him money, although the Irvington Department of Revenue and Finance has sent him copies of the four checks totaling $26,233.12. Check copies were also forwarded to the Irvington Herald, but Chase and the state Civil Service Commission said he was still owed the money after being illegally fired in January 2016.
Chase’s biweekly pre-tax base salary was $6,558.28, but he maintains he never received any of that money after Public Safety Director Tracy Bowers ordered him to turn in his badge, gun and other police equipment in January 2016.
Further, Chase called the “replacement checks” proof that he was never issued the original checks, because he had been fired by Bowers.
“I was fired,” Chase said Sunday, March 19. “The Municipal Council passed an ordinance creating the new Public Safety Department and abolishing my job and title as police chief and, shortly after that, Director Bowers asked me to turn in my badge and gun and anything else I had related to the job in my possession. That sounds like I was fired to me.”
The township’s position is that Chase closed down his bank account, where they had previously been depositing his salary payments through direct deposit, forcing his checks to be subsequently mailed to him. Chase denies ever receiving the checks.
“I never got the checks,” said Chase. “You would think that, if they really did issue me checks that were never cashed, then somebody in town hall or the finance department would have noticed that. They said they paid me and they sent me a W2 form indicating that, according to their records, I had been paid. But I never received any money, but I can’t file my taxes because, if I did, I would be lying and that’s a crime, because I never got paid.”
“They said they’re issuing a check for the money that Civil Service said they owe me, but that was almost two weeks ago and my lawyer hasn’t received anything yet,” Chase said. “They said they’re going to comply with the Civil Service order, but they haven’t done it yet.”
According to a state Civil Service order in a letter dated Thursday, Feb. 23, if Chase isn’t compensated $37, 673 by Sunday, March 26, the town will be fined $100 a day until the fines reaches a $100,000 maximum.
“The federal law says you have to get a W2,” Chase said Monday, March 13. “A W2 is confirming that someone got paid. They never paid me. They’re paying me now in 2017. They said the township legal department said they have to send the check to my lawyer. What do they want me to do about 2016?”
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