According to IRS filings, Anna Fusco is paid $158,386 a year to lead the Broward Teachers Union (BTU). The union’s tax documents state Fusco spends 39.9 hours a week working for BTU. Fusco was first elected BTU President in April 2016.
If she is putting in nearly forty hours a week with a six figure paycheck, why is Anna Fusco still getting a paycheck from the Broward School District?
Last month, REDBROWARD reported on a public records lawsuit brought against the School Board of Broward County. An attorney told Broward Judge Jeffrey Levenson that Anna Fusco was not a full time employee of the District. Attorney Megan Pariti claimed Fusco had “been on approved and uninterrupted full-time union leave…since on or about July 1, 2016.”
FUSCO ON THE PAYROLL
REDBROWARD obtained Broward Schools payroll records for Anna Fusco covering pay periods from August 2016 to July 2022. These records show Fusco was paid a salary for performing up to 75 hours of work during the two week pay period. In addition to salary, the records show received generous holiday pay and sick leave buy back.
While the District claims Fusco is on full-time leave, she was paid a $250 vaccine incentive during the COVID pandemic. Fusco also received a $2,000 “Staff Reopen Stipend,” a $1,000 “Disaster Relief Payment” and your run of the mill $1,500 bonus payment.
REDBROWARD asked Fusco about the payments. In a text message, Fusco said, “It’s a contract agreement.” In a follow up telephone call, Fusco said she received a direct deposit from the Broward School District every two weeks. Even though she is on full time leave, Fusco said she is legally due the payment per the employment contract.
Fusco said the Broward School District is reimbursed once a year by the Broward Teachers Union for the payroll deposits. When asked where this arrangement is documented, Fusco provided language from the BTU contract with Broward Schools which states:
The president and vice president of the BTU, the president of the state affiliate, and the executive officers of the national affiliate shall be granted temporary duty leave for their respective term of office. Upon return from leave, the employee shall be placed in the same position held before such leave, or if such position is not available, to a substantially equivalent position within the scope of the employee’s certification. Such employee shall have the right to continue participation in the retirement system and insurance programs of the District, as well as to receive credit for salary increments, all as if in actual service to the District. The BTU shall reimburse the Board for the actual cost of such employee’s salary and benefits.
A review of the BTU bylaws does not mention reimbursement of salary and benefits paid by Broward taxpayers. Article IX, Section 4 of the BTU bylaws details “officer compensation.”
The document states, “An elected executive officer, working full time, shall Be compensated with a salary approved by the executive board in accordance with available funds as established by the annual budget.”
A review of IRS filings between 2013 and 2015 show then-BTU President Sharon Glickman did not get a salary for her forty-hour work week at the union. Things changed after Fusco became BTU President in 2016.
The 2016 IRS filing shows Fusco received $92,676 in “reportable compensation” (a W2 form) from BTU plus another $8,341 in “other compensation from the organization or related organizations.” In 2017 Fusco was paid $145,513 plus $33,769. In 2018, Fusco was paid $122,620 plus $40,639. In 2019, she was paid $125,053 plus $24,737. In 2020, Fusco was paid $128,738 plus $28,648.
There is no mention of reimbursement of funds payable to the Broward School District.
Sources with other unions tell REDBROWARD it is common practice for union representatives to receive salary from employer as a well as the union.
Those same sources were unfamiliar with practice of unions reimbursing employers.
REDBROWARD asked BTU and the Broward School District for documentation of the reimbursement. As of publication, no documents have been provided.
Can Broward taxpayers really trust the BTU and the Broward School District to do the right thing?
REDBROWARD 
An examination of the contracts should resolve your questions. Perhaps when Sharon Glickman was President the contract conditions were different? Most union contracts that I am familiar with entitle employees detailed to Union Leave to all bonuses and other employee benefits. The salary is as you describe it, based on a contract. If the employee receives a salary from the employer, the Union will reimburse the employer.
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So, Tom, let me get this straight. After paragraphs of casting aspersions on the arrangement Ms. Fusco was successful in obtaining in the way of compensation, including by contract, you slide, 14 paragraphs in, the following: “[s]ources with other unions tell REDBROWARD it is common practice for union representatives to receive salary from employer as a well as the union.” Hmm, so, in other words, what she’s been receiving appears to be the norm. So, the issue with her contractual deal per her is?? But, sure, depending on just how the language of the contract is to be interpreted (as to, for instance, amount and timing) to the effect that “[t]he BTU shall reimburse the Board for the actual cost of such employee’s salary and benefits” that maybe the BTU (the obligor here after all any way) has an obligation to be further explained.
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This article questions what? It’s clear that salaries and bonuses are dependent upon contracts and it’s normal for people to receive pay from BTU and BCPS. Stay out of her pockets!
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