November 5, 2009 NECIR: Taylor remains with DALA as consultant Play video

(NECN: Joe Bergantino, Boston, Mass.) - New information has been discovered in an ongoing investigation by NECN and the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University regarding the Massachusetts Division of Administrative Law Appeals (DALA).

We have learned that the head of the DALA, who resigned in the wake of our investigation in August, is continuing to work for the agency as a consultant.

View our original report on DALA.

Shelly Taylor, who was forced out of the state division amid a backlog of cases and complaints about her management, has remained under contract with the agency since early September.

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Jeff Waite was a prison guard for 22 years at MCI Norfolk, until he injured his back on the job.

His fight for a disability pension eventually ended up here at DALA.

In June of 2008, Shelly Taylor, then the head of DALA, heard the case. State regulations required Taylor to issue a decision within 90 days. Almost a year and a half later, Jeff Waite is still waiting.

"It's like your whole life is on hold," Waite said. "She heard the evidence, make a decision. They paid her to do a job, now do it."

The administration of Governor Deval Patrick paid Shelly Taylor more than $200,000 over two years to hear cases and manage the

division of administrative law appeals. Agency judges rules on a variety of appeals --including those from government workers unhappy with pension decisions and from professionals whose state-issued licenses have been revoked or suspended.

A few months ago, we told you about Taylor's record at DALA. In 2007, Governor Patrick hired her to improve the agency's efficiency. Instead, the waiting time for a hearing almost doubled from one year to two. The number of decisions issued by DALA dropped by half during her tenure.

Now we've learned, that Taylor had her own backlog of decisions she was supposed to write, but never did. And for that taylor got a reward of sorts.

A consultant contract -- at a rate of $6,300 a month for two months starting in early September -- to finish the work she should have done in her two years on the job.

"That's absolutely crazy. No sense whatsoever. As a taxpayer, I'm furious," Waite said.

Dick Heidlage, who Taylor hired as second-in-command of DALA and now is acting head of the agency, made the decision.

"She believed that she would have the time to write the decisions, have the hearings and write the decisions," Heidlage said. "It just didn't happen."

In fact, there are the only two full case decisions Taylor wrote during her two years on the job.

Chris Connelly was the head of DALA before Taylor took over the agency and fired him. In his time with the agency, he wrote 18 to 24 decisions.

"She was unable to get decisions out," Heidlage said.

Heidlage said Taylor's first mistake was assigning herself 41 cases, given her other responsibilities as manager.

"She should not have assigned those cases to herself, because she had too much other stuff to do," Heidlage said.

That other "stuff" included eliminating the agency's backlog. But Heidlage said taylor failed at that, too.

"She was essentially a choke point for getting work out of the agency. That was the problem," Heidlage said.

But Heidlage said he was faced with the choice of either paying Taylor extra to write her backlogged decisions or assigning the cases to other magistrates.

"For me to reassign those to another magistrate would have meant -- for most of them -- that we would have had to have a rehearing and we were trying to avoid that," Heidlage said.

In early September, Taylor began writing decisions in 12 cases she had heard during her two years on the job. She's been working out of her apartment in Cambridge. As of early this week, she had handed in seven. Five more are due by Friday.

Deborah Kohl, Jeff Waite's attorney, is concerned.

"That shows to me a lack of supervision of her activities. I would have hoped someone is supervising and saying that these are the expectations out of you, that we will get this many completed on a weekly basis --not wait until the last minute," Kohl said.

Jeff Waite has all but given up hope that he will get a thorough and fair decision.

"She was incapable of doing it while she was on the job. Why should I believe she is capable now?" he said.

For our report in August, we tried to talk with Taylor, but she refused to answer our questions.

This week, Taylor again did not respond to our requests for an interview.

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There is at least one more chapter to this story.

The State Auditor's Office, which last Spring began its own investigation of the State Division of Administrative Law Appeals, said it will issue a report on the agency in the next few months.