By Tiffany Williams –
NEW YORK — A sweeping New York City investigation into police pensions has uncovered years of inconsistent procedures, poor communication and pension calculations that investigators say gave some current and former NYPD officials benefits higher than they were entitled to receive under the law.
The New York City Department of Investigation examined the NYPD’s use of Section 821 designations from 2022 through 2025 during former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration. The investigation found at least five cases in which officials who moved from competitive civil service positions into positions that were not pension-eligible were nevertheless allowed to continue pension membership, leaving their pensions higher now or potentially higher in the future than DOI determined they were legally entitled to receive.
DOI Commissioner Nadia I. Shihata did not mince words about what investigators found.
“This investigation illustrates the essential need for agencies to communicate clearly with each other and for government agencies to have well-defined, written policies and follow the rules. These critical elements were absent in the prior mayoral administration’s issuance of § 821 designations involving several high-ranking NYPD personnel. As a result, NYPD officials were treated inconsistently and some received a higher pension than they would otherwise have been eligible for, with taxpayers footing the bill. Those pensions should be recalculated and adjusted properly. I thank the NYPD, DCAS and the PPF for their cooperation on this investigation and hope they will implement DOI’s recommendations promptly.”
At the center of the investigation is Section 821 of the New York City Charter, a provision designed to protect competitive-class city employees who move temporarily into exempt positions. It allows the mayor or an agency head to designate an eligible employee so that the employee can retain competitive-class rights and privileges, including pension protections, while serving in an exempt or unclassified leadership position.
The provision was intended to make it possible for qualified employees to accept leadership jobs without jeopardizing pensions they had spent years earning. DOI found that many of the NYPD’s Section 821 designations during the Adams administration were consistent with that purpose, but the investigation also exposed significant breakdowns in how those designations were documented, communicated and administered.
The Police Pension Fund administers benefits for full-time uniformed NYPD employees and distributed $4.65 billion in benefits to retirees during fiscal year 2025. Pension calculations are tied to factors including final average salary, making decisions involving higher-paying exempt positions potentially significant to the amount an employee ultimately receives.
The NYPD disclosed that nine people received Section 821 designations during the Adams administration.
They were Edward A. Caban, designated First Deputy Commissioner on Jan. 1, 2022; Howard Singer, designated Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of Correction on April 8, 2022; Luis Martinez, designated Chief Advisor at the Fire Department on Feb. 6, 2023; Tania Kinsella, designated First Deputy Commissioner on July 17, 2023; Juanita N. Holmes, designated Commissioner of Probation on Aug. 8, 2023; Tarik Sheppard, designated Deputy Commissioner on Aug. 7, 2023; Jason Cira, designated Deputy Chief of Staff on Aug. 8, 2023; Kaz R. Daughtry, designated Deputy Commissioner on Feb. 5, 2024; and Mona Suazo, designated Deputy Commissioner and later Chief of Staff, effective Oct. 15, 2024.
DOI found that some of those designations were routine applications of the law. Daughtry, for example, was designated from his competitive-class title to serve as an exempt-class Deputy Commissioner in February 2024, a move DOI said likely preserved pension eligibility that he otherwise would have lost.
Kinsella presented a different situation. She moved from Deputy Chief to First Deputy Commissioner, but because she had already satisfied her 20-year service requirement, DOI determined she would have remained eligible for Police Pension Fund membership even without the Section 821 designation. The designation still gave her other protections, including the ability to return to her Deputy Chief position after completing her assignment as First Deputy Commissioner.
Five of the nine Section 821 designations were used to facilitate appointments outside the NYPD. DOI concluded that the practice itself is permitted under the City Charter and that nothing in Section 821 restricts eligible employees to temporary positions within their original agency.
But investigators found striking inconsistencies in how the NYPD handled the paperwork.
Holmes submitted extensive documentation when seeking leave to serve as Commissioner of Probation. Her file included a waiver involving the use of her Probation Commissioner salary in calculating pension benefits, an affidavit requesting indefinite leave without pay, a request to continue making pension contributions while on leave and a request for approval from the Police Commissioner.
The NYPD Chief of Personnel recommended approval after conferring with the Human Resources Division and Police Pension Fund, and then-Police Commissioner Edward Caban approved the request.
Kinsella’s file looked dramatically different. DOI found a single internal NYPD communication noting her promotion and new title. Her file contained no reference to Section 821 and no written approvals, despite the City Charter requiring Section 821 designations to be made in writing and maintained by the agency.
Daughtry completed detailed Section 821 paperwork when he left the NYPD to become Deputy Mayor for Public Safety in February 2025. But that paperwork was initially missing from the material the NYPD produced to DOI because of what the report described as an administrative error. Investigators ultimately discovered the documents while examining Daughtry’s Police Pension Fund file.
Those documentation problems had consequences.
DOI found that Eugene Whyte, Edelle James and Louis Molina were allowed to maintain pension eligibility because the Police Pension Fund mistakenly believed they had received Section 821 designations.
They had not.
The confusion was so significant that the NYPD initially gave DOI the same incorrect information before later correcting its records. DOI found that Whyte and James continued accumulating pension-eligible service and received higher salaries that would be included in their final-average-salary calculations, producing what DOI described as improperly inflated pension calculations.
Molina’s case went even further.
When Molina was appointed to the exempt position of Director of Internal Affairs in 2023, DOI found it had been more than a decade since he retired from his competitive-class position. Because Section 821 applies to an officer or employee occupying a competitive-class position, DOI concluded Molina was not simply someone who had never received the designation — he was not eligible to receive one.
Despite that, the Police Pension Fund re-enrolled Molina under the mistaken belief that he had received a Section 821 designation. His annual pension increased from $49,739.73 to $71,691.32.
Molina served as Commissioner of the Department of Correction until December 2023, Assistant Deputy Mayor for Public Safety from December 2023 until June 2024 and Commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services from July 2024 through the end of 2025. According to the DOI report, he occupied the Director of Internal Affairs position only during the first three weeks of January 2026.
DOI wants the pensions of Whyte, James and Molina recalculated to reflect the fact that none of the three received Section 821 designations.
The investigation also uncovered another major problem: even when the NYPD attempted to limit the financial impact of Section 821 designations, the Police Pension Fund did not always follow those conditions.
The practice stretches back decades. In 1979, following New York City’s financial crisis, then-Police Commissioner Robert Joseph McGuire proposed requiring some Section 821 recipients to agree that salaries earned in higher-paying exempt positions would not be used to increase their police pensions.
Then-Corporation Counsel Allen G. Schwartz concluded such agreements were legal, reasoning that pension membership involves contractual rights that can voluntarily be waived.
The NYPD continued using those agreements. Three of the nine Section 821 recipients between 2022 and 2025 signed forms agreeing that compensation from their exempt positions would not be included in pension calculations.
Holmes was one of them.
But DOI found the NYPD had no written policy establishing who must sign such an agreement and who does not. Investigators specifically questioned why Holmes was required to exclude her salary as Commissioner of Probation while Howard Singer was not required to exclude compensation associated with his service as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of Correction.
Then came another breakdown.
The Police Pension Fund told DOI it does not honor those salary-waiver agreements.
DOI rejected that interpretation and pointed to the earlier Corporation Counsel opinion supporting the legality of voluntary waivers. Investigators recommended that the Pension Fund honor the agreements and review the pensions of everyone who signed one to make certain their benefits were calculated accordingly.
The numbers illustrate how large the difference can become.
Holmes had a pensionable salary of $261,725.81 immediately before receiving her Section 821 designation to become Probation Commissioner, according to pension documents cited by DOI. Despite agreeing to exclude the exempt-position salary, her retirement allowance was calculated using her Commissioner salary and a final average salary of $282,301.39.
The Police Pension Fund disputed part of that calculation, telling DOI that Holmes’ final average salary based on her competitive-class salary would have been $281,242.58. DOI said the Pension Fund had not provided documents supporting that figure and that it was inconsistent with the earnings reflected in Holmes’ pension records.
Daughtry also signed an agreement to exclude his exempt-position salary when he became Deputy Mayor for Public Safety in February 2025.
DOI found the Police Pension Fund did not apply that agreement.
According to the Pension Fund figures cited in the report, Daughtry’s estimated retirement allowance would have been $100,505.19 if the agreement had been honored. Instead, the report says he currently receives $153,199.25.
Luis Martinez has not yet retired, but DOI said the financial impact could also be substantial in his case.
Martinez was an NYPD lieutenant before receiving a Section 821 designation to become Chief Advisor to the Fire Commissioner in February 2023. He earned $122,892 annually immediately before leaving the NYPD. By 2025, his Fire Department salary had reached $247,768.
Martinez agreed that the higher salary would not be used in calculating his pension. DOI warned that whether the Police Pension Fund honors that agreement could substantially affect his eventual retirement allowance.
DOI concluded the NYPD had reached agreements with Holmes, Daughtry and Martinez allowing them to move into city leadership positions while limiting the effect of those higher-paying jobs on their pensions. Investigators said the Pension Fund should honor those agreements.
The investigation also found the NYPD has no written policy governing Section 821 designations.
DOI asked the department for standards used to evaluate applications, including a document identified as Police Commissioner’s Memo 90 Series 1980. The NYPD could not locate it.
Holmes’ application indicated the department once had such a policy. DOI said its disappearance, combined with the absence of a replacement, contributed to inconsistent standards, inconsistent documentation and the possibility that similarly situated employees could receive different treatment.
The Department of Citywide Administrative Services had no written guidance either.
When DOI asked DCAS for guidance provided to city agencies and the Mayor’s Office regarding Section 821 designations, DCAS reported that it had no responsive records. DOI said that because DCAS is responsible for citywide personnel matters, it should establish guidance to promote consistent treatment across city government.
The Police Pension Fund also lacked a written Section 821 policy.
DOI found communication between the NYPD and Pension Fund could be as informal as a telephone call informing the Fund that someone had received a designation, rather than transmitting the documents establishing it. The NYPD reported nine Section 821 designations from 2022 through 2025, while Pension Fund records reflected at least three additional officials whom the NYPD ultimately confirmed had never received them.
The investigation then uncovered another pension issue involving Kenneth Morgan and Lamona Knight.
The NYPD initially identified Morgan, appointed an Assistant Commissioner in June 2023, and Knight, appointed in November 2024, as Section 821 recipients. The Pension Fund had no Section 821 designation on record for either person, and the NYPD later corrected its information and confirmed neither had received one.
But both had their pension memberships restored after returning from retirement to work as Assistant Commissioners.
The Police Pension Fund told DOI it interpreted a section of the Administrative Code allowing reinstatement for a beneficiary appointed Police Commissioner or Deputy Police Commissioner as covering Morgan and Knight.
DOI disagreed.
Investigators found neither held one of those positions. Knight held the exempt-class civil service title of Property Clerk, while Morgan held the exempt-class title of Assistant Commissioner. DOI concluded neither was eligible for reinstatement under the language relied upon by the Pension Fund.
The financial implications were again significant.
Knight’s pension increased 27% during her tenure as Assistant Commissioner. Morgan has not yet retired, but DOI said his pension could also be substantially affected by the period of service that investigators determined was not pension-eligible.
DOI issued 11 recommendations in response to the investigation.
The agency wants the Police Pension Fund to recalculate the pensions of Eugene Whyte, Edelle James and Louis Molina based on the determination that they never received Section 821 designations. It wants the Fund to honor agreements excluding exempt-position salaries from pension calculations and review calculations for everyone who executed such an agreement.
DOI wants the NYPD to create a comprehensive written Section 821 policy. That policy would restrict designations to eligible competitive-class employees, require that designations serve the purpose contemplated by Section 821, provide employees consistent rights and obligations, enforce the requirement that designations be made and retained in writing, and establish a consistent process for transmitting them to the Police Pension Fund.
DOI also recommended that DCAS establish citywide Section 821 guidance and that the Police Pension Fund adopt its own written policy governing how designations are administered.
Finally, DOI wants the Pension Fund to calculate the pensions of Kenneth Morgan and Lamona Knight without including their service as NYPD Assistant Commissioners.
The Police Pension Fund accepted the recommendation to establish a written Section 821 policy and continues evaluating DOI’s recommendations involving Whyte, James, Molina, the salary-waiver agreements, Morgan and Knight. The NYPD accepted the recommendations directed at the department, while DCAS accepted the recommendation calling for citywide guidance.
The investigation was conducted and the report written by DOI Special Investigative Counsel Zachary Bannon of the Office of the Inspector General for Special Investigations and Legal Fellow Dylan Evans. Confidential Investigator Angela Nouvertne and Special Counsel to the Inspectors General Maria Kostel assisted.
The investigation was supervised by Inspectors General Audrey Feldman and Eleonora Rivkin, Deputy Commissioner and Chief of Investigations Michael P. Mullahy, and Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan.
Shihata also thanked NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch, Department of Citywide Administrative Services Commissioner Yume Kitasei and Police Pension Fund Executive Director Kevin Holloran for their cooperation and assistance.
The findings leave New York City with a complicated pension record stretching across multiple agencies, multiple high-ranking officials and years of inconsistent practices. DOI concluded that Section 821 remains a legitimate mechanism for allowing qualified competitive-class employees to accept leadership assignments without sacrificing their pensions, but warned that misuse can produce unequal treatment, inaccurate pension calculations and additional costs for taxpayers.
Now the focus shifts to correction.
The NYPD and DCAS have accepted every recommendation directed to them. The Police Pension Fund has agreed to create a written policy but is still evaluating the recommendations that could require recalculating pensions and enforcing agreements that could significantly change retirement benefits for several current and former city officials.