Staff Writer
The East Hampton Town Board last week approved a payout of $188,000 for unused vacation and sick time for former Planning Director Marguerite Wolffsohn, who retired last month.

Ms. Wolffsohn had worked in the town’s Planning Department for 31 years. When she retired on August 31, she had accrued 1,155 hours of unused vacation time — about 145 eight-hour work days — and 2,641 hours of sick time. The payouts calculate to about $48 per hour of unused time off.

Municipal contracts have long commanded that any allocated sick and vacation days not used at the end of a year be rolled over and “banked” in perpetuity and paid out at the commensurate salary if they are still unused when the employee retires.

“Marguerite Wolffsohn was an incredibly dedicated employee of the town and rarely took a vacation or missed a day at work,” Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said of the payout. “This payout is evidence that she was, well, she was on the job almost continuously for 31 years. She earned it.”