State agency director who quit after 19 weeks kept retention bonus

Former Iowa Department of Homeland Security Director Paul Trombino kept almost $17,000 in retention-bonus pay after remaining on the job just 19 weeks.

Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed Trombino director of the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in January and awarded him a $40,000 retention bonus for what her office called his “continued dedication and willingness to serve the people of Iowa.”

The bonus, first reported in April by the Cedar Rapids Gazette, was increased in February to $46,176, raising Trombino’s annual pay to $158,246, well above the legally mandated salary cap of $112,070. His hiring took effect Jan. 22.

In her Feb. 9 letter notifying Trombino of the increased bonus, Reynolds’s chief of staff, Sara Craig Gongol, wrote that in accordance with Iowa’s administrative rules, he was “required to sign an agreement to continue employment for a specified period of time following receipt of payment. A 12-month period of time has been deemed commensurate with the amount of payment you will receive.”

Read more: https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2021/07/16/state-agency-director-who-quit-after-19-weeks-kept-retention-bonus/