Manorhaven to borrow $275G to pay for judgment won by former village employee Sharon Abramski

The village of Manorhaven will borrow $275,000 to finance a court judgment won by a former village employee who alleged she was improperly terminated. 

Sharon Abramski had been working as the village's clerk-treasurer in February 2023 when she was fired and accused by Mayor John Popelski of "stealing money from the village and writing checks to herself," according to court papers.

Abramski then filed an Article 78 lawsuit, which is used to challenge municipalities, claiming that her termination violated the state's Public Officers Law, which states that village officials can be terminated so long as an "application of removal" is "made to the appellate division of the supreme court held within the judicial department embracing such town, village, improvement district or fire district."

The village did not file such a petition with the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court until April 2023, more than two months after the firing.

"Neither the Mayor nor the Village Board of Trustees had the authority to remove Ms. Abramski from the office of Village Clerk-Treasurer," Steven Leventhal, Abramski's Roslyn-based attorney, wrote in the petition.

Leventhal declined to comment for this story. 

Manorhaven officials did not respond to a request for comment. 

Abramski had served as deputy village clerk-treasurer from July 2012 to June 2016 and as clerk-treasurer from July 2016 to September 2020. She was rehired in July 2022 for a two-year term, according to her employment letter.

The village's retroactive petition in the state appellate division did not render Abramski's petition "moot," former state Supreme Court Justice Dawn Jimenez wrote in an October 2023 decision that "nullified" Abramski's termination.

Jimenez also ordered that Abramski be "reinstated to her office with full back pay and benefits."

The village filed a notice of appeal but never perfected the appeal, according to the court documents, and in February 2025, the court found the village to be in "contempt" and ordered Manorhaven to pay Abramski $237,373.06 in back pay, unused vacation time, unused sick time, unused personal time, unused compensatory time and the value of health, vision and dental insurance she did not have access to — and for Abramski to be reinstated to the state's pension system. 

The village filed a notice of appeal, but once again, did not perfect it, and it was dismissed, according to a June 9, 2026, decision written by Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Greg Roth.

Roth found Manorhaven to be "in contempt" once again for failure to comply with the February 2025 order, and set a hearing date for July 29 to determine the "proper consequence."

The village on July 16 approved the issuance of a bond for $275,000 to pay for Abramski's judgment. 

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.