Child and family services attorney worked second job on state time, IL report finds
An attorney working for the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services was fired after an investigation determined she was working nearly the same, and sometimes more, hours for a second job that overlapped with her work for the state.
Deborah Riley was hired as senior regional counsel for the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) in November 2022. She was fired following an investigation by the Office of the Executive Inspector General released March 11.
Riley could not be reached for comment.
Prior to joining DCFS, she was the president of a bank, the report said. The bank’s name was redacted from the report.
Early on in her employment, she disclosed to the state that she would sit on the bank’s Board of Directors and do some part-time weekend work outside of her DCFS hours, the report said.
However, the investigation found there was some overlap in hours.
The investigation determined that the Urbana attorney violated employee rules by overlapping work for a bank and her work for DCFS. Subpoenaed timesheets showed that from mid-November 2022, when she first started at DCFS, to mid-February 2023, she was working nearly identical and sometimes more hours at the bank.
While the start and end times were not logged for Riley’s bank work, timekeeping records showed she worked 70.75 hours for the bank and 67.5 hours for DCFS during her first two weeks in her new role, according to the report.
From pay periods beginning Nov. 16, 2022 to Jan. 15, 2023, Riley worked more hours at the bank than she did at DCFS, the report said. She continued to log hours at the bank until May 2023.
Riley told investigators that she conducted work for the bank on weekends and during her breaks during the DCFS workday, according to the report.
During days she worked remotely for DCFS, however, Riley had been working from the bank, according to the report. Investigators said they also found multiple text messages and emails sent by Riley indicating that she was working for the bank during her DCFS hours.
“It is not credible that Ms. Riley worked that many hours for both the Bank and DCFS during her first 12-weeks of State employment and never once, especially while working remotely at the Bank, conducted Bank business outside of her allotted DCFS lunches and breaks,” the report said.
Because the attorney would often handle sensitive cases, the report said the optics of working remotely from a bank indicated a breach in confidentiality.
The attorney argued that she was “very cautious” when working from the bank and only conducted bank business outside of DCFS hours, the report said.
The report was finished in April 2024, but was not released until March 11. Following the report’s internal release, Riley was given the opportunity to resign by Dec. 6, but she did not turn in her resignation, the report said.
She was fired Jan. 10, according to the report.
Urbana is about a 135-mile drive southwest from Chicago.
