Doing private work on state time
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- August
- 12
  The affirmative action and equal employment-opportunity officer for the New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance was fired Monday following state Inspector General Joseph Fisch’s findings that he subsidized his private business while on state time. Fisch found that Larry Ritter was paid more than $18,000 by the state for days he was absent and working as a private consultant. The case is being referred to the Albany County district attorney for possible prosecution of fraud, larceny and official misconduct, Fisch announced today. Â
  Ritter, who was based in Albany, conducted 40 private training programs from 2003 to 2007 during the work day while reporting on his time sheets that he was doing his state job. He worked without permission of the agency, which previously had denied Ritter permission to conduct the private trainings because the work was “virtually identical†to his ODTA job, according to the Inspector General’s Office.
  In 2003, Ritter became an independent contractor for the National Coalition Building Institute, and he started his own business in 2006, called Diversity Solutions. He ran diversity trainings in both jobs.Â
  Ritter, 52, made $87,383 a year training ODTA’s 2,300 employees on sexual harassment and diversity issues. He is the husband of Diana Jones Ritter, commissioner of the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, who said she first learned of Diversity Solutions when her husband was subpoenaed by the Inspector General’s Office. For one training at the Christian Brothers Academy in Colonie, he received $1,500 plus $3,000 in tuition credit for his son while reporting he was on his state job.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 11:19 am by Cara Matthews.
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Mr. Ritter is a Peekskill alumni from the 70’s. Still are many members of his family in town. I just have a hard time with the wife not knowing. That sounds convenient and a bit too fantastical for me. Ever heard of cya? She is covering it here.
She used to be my big boss at OSC. With all she knows about “ethics,” I find it hard to believe there was a lapse such as this.