As Wellesley school Business Manager Ruth Quinn Berdell enters the fifth week of her unusual “voluntary paid leave of absence,” officials are being advised by legal counsel to refrain from commenting about the circumstances or duration of the leave.

School Committee Chairman Suzy Littlefield repeated on Friday what she has said since the leave was first announced, that there would be no further comment until there is a change in status.

The Wellesley School Committee has held two sessions behind closed doors to discuss “potential litigation,” and they are working with attorney Keith Muntyan of the Boston firm Morgan, Brown & Joy which counsels the schools in labor issues.

In the meantime, Berdell is receiving her full pay based on an annual salary of $137,395, amounting to $2,632.88 per week or $526.58 a day, according to salary figures obtained from the town’s annual report.

According to Susan Adler, the town’s director of human relations, granting a “voluntary, paid leave” is unusual.

“This is the first time I’ve seen an administrator’s leave characterized as voluntary,” she said.

Administrators are usually put on paid leave when it is beneficial to the organization to have them out of the office while an investigation of some kind is being conducted, according to Adler, who said those leaves are not typically characterized as voluntary.

The announcement of Berdell’s leave came after a tumultuous year for the school business office. Last winter it became public that there was more than $100,000 in unpaid lunch balances, with some accounts outstanding for more than a year.

In addition, it was discovered that bills were not being mailed to parents on a regular basis, and the policy that accounts should be used on a debit, rather than credit system was essentially being allowed to be ignored.

In addition, a review of practices in the business office by an independent account firm found a lack of communication between those collecting money and those depositing it, and an overall lack of proper accounting procedures being followed by the office.

The position of school business administrator falls under the jurisdiction of the superintendent, according to the Massachusetts General Laws, which has specific language governing the hiring and dismissal of such employees.

According the MGL section 71, chapter 41, a school business manager can not be dismissed or demoted “except for good cause.”

The exact interpretation of what constitutes “good cause,” is not contained in the law.

In addition, the law specifies that dismissal must include a “written notice of intent to dismiss with an explanation of the grounds for the dismissal.”

The law then allows that the employee, with an attorney present, has the right to review the explanation with the superintendent with 15 days, and then may ask for a review of the decision by filing a request for arbitration with the state commissioner of education.

It is not known whether any of those steps have been taken, or whether Berdell has obtained counsel and requested arbitration.

If she has requested such a review, the arbitration process is also specifically outlined in the law. It stipulates that the cost of the hearing will be split between both parties, the burden of proof lies with the school district and that an arbitrator’s decision must be issued within one month of the hearing.

The arbitrator would be selected from a list of three issued by the commissioner’s office, with each side allowed to dismiss one of the three until they agree on a single person to hear the case.