From the Sun-Times: 
 
9 water dept. workers quit before city could fire them 
 
September 9, 2005 
 
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter 
Nine clout-heavy city employees accused of participating in a payroll scam -- including the brother-in-law of county Commissioner John Daley -- resigned before they could be fired, preserving lump-sum payments for unused vacation time. 
 
 Law Department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle said City Hall was powerless to stop resignations of Daley brother-in-law John Briatta, Water Management's $94,827-a-year chief equipment dispatcher; Frank Cannatello, a $28-an-hour emergency crew dispatcher, and seven others assigned to what was known as the "leak desk" at the Jardine Water Filtration Plant. 
 
Resigning saves vacation payout 
 
 The cushy assignment of answering phones and prioritizing repair requests was long dominated by 11th Ward loyalists. It was transferred to the 311 non-emergency system after the payroll scandal broke in June, costing Water Management Commissioner Rick Rice his job. 
 
 The nine employees were accused of falsifying attendance records over a two-month period -- maybe longer. 
 
 "We initiated termination proceedings on June 2 against all nine individuals," Hoyle said. "Under procedures established in their collective bargaining agreement, they had seven days to respond to the charges before the terminations would be final. All nine individuals resigned during that time." 
 
 Hoyle emphasized that their decision to jump to avoid being pushed had no effect on the nine employees' city pensions. Pensions can be denied only when a city employee "has a felony conviction related to their job duties," she said. 
 
 "The only thing they would be getting by resigning rather than being fired is if they had any accrued vacation time. They could be paid for that, presumably in a lump sum," Hoyle said. "The most you'd have is two years' worth of vacation days, plus whatever you're accruing in the current year. . . . The maximum is 23 vacation days a year." 
 
 It was not known how much money Briatta, Cannatello and their cohorts got.