‘NYC paid me over $1 million to do nothing’
The city paid a pension-fund employee $1.3 million in salary and benefits over 10 years — but gave her nothing to do, she says.
Niki Murphy, who was listed as an IT business analyst, said the managers of NYCERS, the city’s largest taxpayer-funded employee pension fund, refused to let her do any work because she married the former executive director, who blogged critically about the retirement system.
“In 10 years, they paid me over a million dollars to sit there,” she told The Post.
“Day in and day out. I sat there. I watched movies, I crocheted — right in front of them. I took an online course in computer science — anything to keep myself busy. They made me feel worthless.”
The stress of being shut out of assignments and meetings took a physical toll, she said. In 2013, she developed acute ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory-bowel disease. Last year, she suffered a massive heart attack at age 54.
After bypass surgery, she returned to NYCERS but still languished in her cubicle. She quit in May, two years before she was eligible to collect her pension.
“It became a grudge match. They didn’t think I would last as long as I did,” she said.
Murphy said she repeatedly begged for work.
“It was always, ‘Yes, yes, yes, we’re coming up with a new project,’ but nothing ever came of it,” she said.
A new manager once gave her work, but NYCERS General Counsel Karen Mazza and Felita DiLorenzo, the current compliance officer, nixed it and reprimanded the manager, Murphy said.
That manager and others told her: “It’s because you’re married to John Murphy. You can’t know anything that’s going on.”
She denied ever sharing confidential NYCERS information with her hubby.
‘DAY IN AND DAY OUT. I SAT THERE. I WATCHED MOVIES, I CROCHETED — RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM’- Niki Murphy
The former Niki Browne joined NYCERS in 1998 after working 18 years for other city agencies, including the Mayor’s Office.
In 2003, John Murphy’s deputy named her deputy director of administration, boosting her salary by $14,000 to $96,000 a year.
It soon came out that she and John Murphy were romantically involved. Both were married but were going through divorces.
Accused of promoting her because of their relationship, John Murphy, who made $171,000 a year, was forced to retire in 2005. He unsuccessfully sued the city, alleging it ruined his reputation.
Niki Murphy said she spent $100,000 in legal fees for a “name-clearing hearing” but lost. Such hearings are for public employees who claim they have been unfairly stigmatized.
When John Murphy left, NYCERS demoted Niki to her permanent civil-service title, associate staff analyst, and cut her salary back to $82,000, although it rose to $101,000 by 2012 under union contracts.
She could not be fired without charges of wrongdoing and was not transferred.
She began a decade of dormancy.
“It was the equivalent of being in a teacher’s rubber room for 10 years,” she said. “I was mocked for making all this money and doing nothing.”
In 2008, John Murphy began a blog, NYCERS Info. He became a critic of the pension system and blasted its spending, investments and rising management fees, citing data in public records.
He and Niki wed in 2010.
Niki’s bosses gave her “dirty looks” every day, she said. Co-workers learned to steer clear.
“When [managers] realized who I was friendly with, those co-workers were passed up for promotion,” she said.
As the sole supporter of two teenage daughters, she stuck it out. She had to take unpaid medical leaves for her illnesses. NYCERS refused her request for a three-month paid sick leave.
Mazza, NYCERS’ general counsel, denied it was a no-work job but refused to elaborate, calling it a “private personnel matter.”
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