O’Leary Aide Repays $21,208 Allowance

E. Shirley Thomas, the Energy Department ombudsman who received substantial living allowance payments to which she was not entitled, repaid the government $21,208, department spokeswoman Barbara Semedo said.

Thomas, a friend of Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary, wrote a check for the entire amount that she had accrued through a $35 per diem payment for when she was in Washington the past two years.

Thomas was eligible for the allowance only as long as she maintained a residence in New Jersey while on leave from her previous job as a Newark, N.J., school social worker.

In fact, Thomas sold her New Jersey residence and moved to a Washington suburb in December 1993, shortly after her appointment to the newly created Energy Department position.

The counsel initiated a review of the payments last month after an inquiry by The Times.