Van Saun to receive back payments for pension

Luzerne County’s Retirement Board voted unanimously Wednesday to refund $88,319.53 in employee contributions — without interest — to former Children and Youth director Joanne Van Saun.

Officials said the county has no legal grounds to withhold the payments Van Saun had made toward her pension.

The Dallas woman was sentenced in December to 34 months of probation for misdemeanor child endangerment and obstruction offenses, with the first nine months on house arrest, related to her failure to investigate at least 217 reports alleging child abuse and neglect in 2017.

The retirement board had unanimously voted in February to deny Van Saun’s county pension, which had been calculated at $4,467.23 per month based largely on her approximately 35 years of county employment, according to the board.

Under the state pension forfeiture act, former employees are not eligible for a pension or interest on their contributions toward a pension if they are convicted of certain crimes related to their employment, officials have said.

During the February meeting, several citizens had urged the board to either reject the pension or provide Van Saun with only a return of the payments she had made into the fund without interest.

Council members Kendra Radle and Brian Thornton, county Manager Randy Robertson, county Budget/Finance Division Head Brian Swetz and pension employee/retiree representative John Evanchick Jr. serve on the retirement board, which oversees the employee pension fund.