Indiana Public Employees' Retirement Fund, Indianapolis, disclosed its board made an illegal confidential payment of $212,000 two years ago in a settlement with Patricia J. Gerrick after she left as CIO, said Jeff Carter, external affairs director of the $12 billion fund. The board voted to make the payment in a closed meeting in 2003, instead of in a public meeting as required by state law, Mr. Carter said.
The payment was a settlement in part over a discrimination case with the state civil rights commission, claiming "part of the reason she was terminated was she was a female," Mr. Carter said. Ms. Gerrick agreed to accept the payment in exchange for her resignation and dropping her complaint, he added. "She had a very respectable track record with the fund," Mr. Carter said.
The payment was made public when the State Board of Accounts criticized the secrecy of the payment. After the matter came to light in the audit, the board subsequently approved the payment in a public vote.
"No one has threatened any action" over the illegal voting because "the board went ahead and took action to correct it," Mr. Carter said.
Ms. Gerrick was CIO from April 1, 2001, to Oct. 16, 2003, and was paid $150,000 a year, Mr. Carter said. She is CIO of the $60 billion North Carolina Retirement Systems, Raleigh, which she joined last year. She didn't return a call for comment.
