Broward County Judge Gisele Pollack has asked the Florida Supreme Court to allow her to collect her $138,000 a year salary while she undergoes treatment for alcoholism, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Pollack was suspended without pay last week after she allegedly took the bench while intoxicated last December and again in March. Pollack’s suspension came a few weeks after she was arrested on a charge of DUI in Plantation.
Pollack’s lawyers said her alcoholism qualified as a disability under the ADA and she should be given “reasonable accommodations” to deal with her disease, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Therefore, her lawyers said, she should be paid during her suspension.
David Bogenschutz, Pollack’s attorney, said she should be given a suspension with pay that would then be reviewed by the state Supreme Court in 90 days, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Pollack is currently in an alcohol treatment program.
She is one of three Broward judges arrested in the past seven months on DUI charges.
