Former guard fights system

By KRISTEN SCHWEIZER
Staff Writer - The Times-Hearld Record

LOCH SHELDRAKE - At age 50, Lawrence Kleiman contemplates suicide.

He has considered it so often his wife last spring locked up all hunting guns inside their modest ranch-style home and hid the key.

"It gets scary sometimes, he starts talking like he wants to end it all," says his wife, Patricia.

Lawrence Kleiman nods in silence, as he sits at his kitchen table. He lifts a shaky hand to smooth his gray head. The Parkinson's disease which eats at his muscles has caused uncontrollable tremors.

In a few short hours, he'll leave to file bankruptcy, taking a cellular phone from the house with him. He often forgets where he is, says Patricia

"I've watched everything I worked for taken from me," he says, of the bankruptcy appointment " I once gave to food pantries, now I beg for food."

Today, as he grapples with the fate of his body, the former correction officer at Sullivan Correctional Facility in Woodbourne said he cannot come to terms with the way he's been treated by the prison.

After 22 years of service, Kleiman was stripped of his badge by the New York State Department of Correctional Services this summer. He has not worked in a year.

He has no benefits. And he's not getting paid - although he could be.

DOCS has a program called Sick Leave at Half-pay, It can continue to pay an employee during sick leave based on years of employment, but that is left to the discretion of prison administrators.

In the two years Klieman has suffered from Parkinson's Disease and chemical carbon monoxide poisoning, he's applied for the Half Pay almost a dozen times.

He's been denied each time.

Letters the couple kept from DOCS show the reason for Kleiman's Half-Pay denial was based on a poor "time and attendance" record during his employment. What that means is that during Klieman's 22 years with DOCS, he had used up much of his annually accrued sick and vacation time rather than saving it.

A spokesman for DOCS refused to discuss Kleiman's case - even after he suggested the family write a letter to DOCS giving him permission to discuss the case.

On this day, as Lawrence Klieman readies for his bankruptcy appointment, he's upset that the agency he gave 22 years to has turned its back on him during a time of dire need.

Getting sicker

It was fall, 1996, when Lawrence Kleiman noticed his failing health. He had been working at Sullivan Correctional Facility for the past 15 years.

"I started to get real thin, other officers asked me if I was dieting," says Kleiman. He lost 45 pounds in six weeks.

In a few short months, his symptoms worsened. He used up his accrued sick time that year - about 11 days, and vacation time. He passed out at work just after the New Year.

In January 1997, Kleiman was placed on no-pay for any sick days he took. He applied for Half-Pay but was denied, the prison cited the poor attendance record. This baffled the Kleimans. Especially since a letter from the prison dated months before writes that Lawrence Kleiman's attendance record is up to snuff.

The only strike against him; Kleiman believes, is that he had already used up much of the sick time he accrued in 22 years of service - more than 1,800 sick hours - for family illness and deaths.

Kleiman said he went to his union rep at the prison and was told he could not protest the program by filing a grievance because it's decided only by prison officials.

DOCS did not answer requests by the Times Herald-Record to learn the cost of Half-Pay and how many people receive it. Rather, they faxed a copy of the agency's Half-Pay directive which outlines the program.

Duane Hannold, president of Council 82 at Sullivan Correctional, said Half-Pay is unfairly decided at each prison by one administrator.

"There should be a panel of people, It should take several weeks to decide and they should give you detailed reasons why they deny you," said Hannold. Every union members, he said, are not part of the review process.

Kleiman's case is unique, he said, because his illness happened outside the workplace. Prison officials, he said, need to look at how much sick and vacation time a correction officer used in the past and was it used legitimately.

"I think anyone who works for state that puts in 22 years should be taken care of. He's done a good job," said Hannold

Some of his fellow union members chipped in their unused sick time for Kleiman's use.

Kleiman worked at Sullivan Correctional until July 1997 before his doctor ordered him to stop. During that time, he brought home $6,500 between January and July and was not paid for sick time off.

The Kleimans eventually hired a lawyer and pushed the grievance issue. DOCS agreed it was grievable. But when Kleiman grieved, prison officials denied it, citing the grievance as "untimely" - it took him too long to file it. They also cited poor attendance.

"I get sick thinking about it," says Kleiman. "I feel like the state is stabbing me in the back had three years to retire."

Going broke

The Kleimans had $20,000 in the bank when Lawrence became ill. Today they are bankrupt.

Had Kleiman been approved for Half-Pay, it would have paid out $33,000 over a year and a half period, they said. It would have also continued Kleiman's state health insurance.

The union has covered health insurance for the family while they wait to hear whether Kleiman is eligible for disability and social security retirement. Insurance money will then be repaid to the union.

One plus is the Kleimans recently received word on veterans coverage from Castle Point. It will cover prescriptions, MRIs and bone marrow work.

But they are still fighting; they hope in the future to hire a lawyer to help them pursue DOCS. Kleiman believes he has a discrimination suit on his hands.

Council 82, however, has told Kleiman it can go no, farther, in a letter dated this August.

Lawrence Kleiman's health will continue to worsen.

The tremors, which started this summer, will eventually take over and cause him to be immobile. Poisoning from carbon monoxide, has affected his right lung and right side of the heart. Carbon monoxide takes oxygen out of blood.

Support from the community has helped.

Area churches and soup kitchens have pitched in with food and money for the family.

Kleiman, who doesn't like the idea of taking handouts from others, continues to hope that someday DOCS will decide he is worthy of Half-Pay. Until then, he waits.

"I gave so much for so many years," he says. "This is not my idea of retirement."