Ill. Workers Suspended over Money to Help Disabled

The Illinois Department of Human Services suspended two employees without pay after an investigation found they had allowed improper expenditures in a state program of up to $100,000.

Agency spokeswoman Januari Smith says Pamela Clay-Wilson and Dawn Laga were suspended for 20 days and received additional training. A third employee implicated in the report by the Office of the Executive Inspector General _ Madesa Dickerson _ left her job a year ago.

The three oversaw 76 clients of an educational and vocational program for the disabled who qualify for state payment for some items like work uniforms.

But the report found $500 went for funeral expenses, $200 to meet a lawyer about child custody and more.

Laga declined comment. Attempts to reach Clay-Wilson and Dickerson were unsuccessful.