Metro

City pension boss gave her ex-girlfriend cushy $127K gig

The head of the city’s largest retirement system hired her former live-in girlfriend to a six-figure managerial job — and the city gave its blessing, The Post has learned.

Diane D’Alessandro, executive director of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, gave her ex-flame Ellen Carton a $127,000-a-year job as deputy director of human resources.

D’Alessandro, who made $208,784 in 2015, ​oversees the agency that manages pension benefits for 300,000 employees and retirees.

Officials refused to ​​say whether the HR job was publicly posted or whether other candidates were interviewed.

NYCERS lawyer Karen Mazza defended the sweetheart hiring. She said D’Alessandro, 63, and Carton, 58, disclosed their prior 18-year relationship to the city Conflicts of Interest Board, which green-lit the appointment.

“It is consistent with NYCERS’ past practice to hire successful and qualified consultants as employees,” Mazza said in an e-mail.

D’Alessandro had already employed Carton as an independent consultant to NYCERS ​for almost two years, The Post learned.

NYCERS in July 2013 entered into a three-year, $130,000-a-year contract with CWI Coaching and Consulting, a two-person Arizona-based firm joined by Carton.

This year, NYCERS awarded CWI a second contract worth as much as $486,150 through June 2018.

Carton worked on “organizational development duties,” said ​Mazza​, who would not ​reveal how much Carton was paid.

CWI Coaching CEO Kathleen Clark told The Post she did not know D’Alessandro and Carton were ex-lovers.

Asked whether D’Alessandro had introduced her to Carton, Clark refused to say, asking: “Why does that matter?”

A government watchdog raised an eyebrow.

“Given the prior relationship and the track record of the agency, it’s doubly important to have a strongly vetted approval process to avoid any smell of nepotism and ensure an ethical hire,” said Citizens Union executive director Dick Dadey.

COIB approved Carton’s hiring because the former lovers no longer had a personal financial relationship, Mayor de Blasio’s spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said.

NYCERS Chairman John Adler ​agreed: “They have been out of the relationship for many years.”

D’Alessandro and Carton, who began dating in 1986, became one of the first gay couples to register with the city as domestic partners in 1993. They shared a Bank Street apartment until their breakup in April 2004, but “remained friendly” said a source who knows both women.

D’Alessandro did not return a call seeking comment. Carton referred all questions to NYCERS.