Many Government Retirees Simultaneously Collect Paychecks And Pensions: Report

DALLAS -- Double-dipping – the well-established practice of public workers collecting government pensions and salaries at the same time – has become a hot topic for lawmakers struggling with strained budgets.

Even as some states have begun curbing the practice, a review by The Associated Press found tens of thousands of state and public school employees drawing government salaries along with their pensions. In five states alone – California, New York, Texas, Florida and Michigan – at least 66,000 government retirees also receive taxpayer-funded paychecks.

One is engineer Maury Roos, who retired from the California Department of Water Resources with an annual pension of more than $113,000. He returned part-time within weeks.

Roos says he uses the extra money to go to engineering conferences and the state gets an experienced engineer.

Comments

[Reaganite60]

06:32 AM on 10/04/2011

If anyone wants further examples of how public employee unions are fleecing the taxpayer, look at these statistics from California.

In 2010, California spent $6 billion on fewer than 30,000 guards and other prison-system employees. A prison guard who started his career at the age of 45 could retire after five years with a pension that very nearly equaled his former salary. The head parole psychiatrist for the California prison system was the state’s highest-paid public employee; in 2010 he’d made $838,706.

The same fiscal year that the state spent $6 billion on prisons, it had invested just $4.7 billion in its higher education—that is, 33 campuses with 670,000 students. Over the past 30 years the state’s share of the budget for the University of California has fallen from 30 percent to 11 percent, and it is about to fall a lot more. In 1980 a Cal student paid $776 a year in tuition; in 2011 he pays $13,218.

Everywhere you turn, the long-term future of the state is being sacrificed.

[LeftRight]

06:53 AM on 10/04/2011

See that's an interesting comparison you bring there..... On the one hand you complain about higher education in the state of California not being good enough and costing too much (something you can blame on REAGAN, by the way, since HE'S the one who started charging students.....)

On the other hand you complain about public unions....

[ivotedabsentee]

09:44 AM on 10/04/2011

[A prison guard who started his career at the age of 45 could retire after five years with a pension that very nearly equaled his former salary.]

I suppose that could be done, but that would be an interesting retirement calculation process.

There must be something very unique for the retirement calculation for this particular situation for someone to work only five years and then retire at age 50 with a pension nearly equal to the salary.

What is missing from the story?

[k0362]

05:20 AM on 10/04/2011

Wow, I haven't seen such a slanted article in quite awhile. I work with a whole lot of Government folks (although I'm not one myself). This phrase "double-dipping" makes it sound like people are taking more money than they should... perhaps twice as much:)

The reality, as usual, is different. If you become retirement eligible after, say, thirty years on the job, you can retire whenever you feel like it. So one day, you do. Now you are receiving the retirement benefits that you EARNED and that were promised to you. But... perhaps those benefits aren't enough to live on (the number in the article is NOT common). Or maybe you get bored. Whatever. For some reason you want to work again. Because of your experience, you are offered another government position. Should you not be paid for your work? Or should your retirement benefits be taken from you?

[kath1y]

11:52 PM on 10/03/2011

All I need to know is that you're basing your story on a video clip from Fox News.

Next.

[Miniwarthog]

11:25 PM on 10/03/2011

Hello Berrycuda, I funded or paid for both my pensions. They are not much, certainly not enough to live on but I can pay my airconditioning bill and very little else. I have worked for over 40 years and I deserve my money. I have to work to survive. I have been working since I was 15. This is not greed. You and many others on this site are not informed. You are stabbing into the dark with your remarks.

[Miniwarthog]

11:15 PM on 10/03/2011

All pension plans are different. If a person works for 20 years and retires at say age 40. Then goes to work somewhere else for another 20 plus years at age say 65 and now is able to be paid for both his pensions. Whats is wrong with that? Most of you don't really understand. You are just mad and jealous that you did not think of doing this yourself. There are people from all walks of life getting two pensions that they worked for. It is the have nots that are in such a fit over this. Grow up folks, life is hard but it is harder if you are stupid, so says John Wayne.

[jmpurser]

11:45 PM on 10/03/2011

What's "wrong" with it from their perspective is that a working class person gets away without being worked to death.

[LeftRight]

06:54 AM on 10/04/2011

Exactly!! Don't know why I'm not a fan, but that's being corrected right now!

[dhsdome]

11:13 PM on 10/03/2011

No jobs for recent college grads....thanks government.

[jmpurser]

11:46 PM on 10/03/2011

Make up your mind: Is the government incapable of creating jobs or are they RESPONSIBLE for creating jobs?

[dknowles60]

10:57 PM on 10/05/2011

good one

[honna3030]

10:42 PM on 10/03/2011

Keep in mind many pensions are not tied to cost of living. So if you retire from the fdny at 50 and are still alive at 90 your pension is not paying the bills. So people still need to work once they are pushed out of the young man's job.

[Alwayspissedoffatsomeone]

12:28 AM on 10/04/2011

You are insane. 40 years of pension and you're thinking it's not enough? This type of entitlement ideology is the reason union members are going to be a thing of the past. Absolutely insane.

[dknowles60]

10:57 PM on 10/05/2011

goood one

[berrycuda]

09:15 PM on 10/03/2011

I can see why people do it, its called greed.

There are people who cannot provide for thier families in America, and these greedy people are sitting in jobs they for the most part do not need, except for the greed factor.

Legal yes, immoral IMHO yes, very much so.

Retire, enjoy, let someone else have the same opportunities you have had.

This points to another or shall I say one of the largest reasons the government is so broke, PENSIONS.
In the public sector, pensions should be outlawed, nobody should get paid not to work. If you want a retirment fund, create your own. I, as a taxpayer, should not be funding your retirement. If you want someone else to fund your retirement, go to work in the private sector...

[jmpurser]

09:29 PM on 10/03/2011

Yeah, working class people holding down a job, THAT'S what's wrong with America today!

[Alwayspissedoffatsomeone]

12:33 AM on 10/04/2011

These folks are just hypocrites. Greed exists on all levels.

[Alwayspissedoffatsomeone]

12:31 AM on 10/04/2011

These are the same folks that are screaming at banks for their greed while they cash their Gubmint checks. Insanity.

[kilchis]

02:19 AM on 10/05/2011

I think that it's spelled "government",the difference is that these people worked for their checks,whether a paycheck or a retirement check. Mine go into a credit union not a bank,thank you very much.

[jmpurser]

09:30 PM on 10/03/2011

Public Unions are just working class people who weren't stupid enough to let their Union die.  That's NOT America's problem today.

[Alwayspissedoffatsomeone]

12:34 AM on 10/04/2011

Yes it is. It's time has come and gone. The public golden goose is dry.

[Ed Baker]

06:34 PM on 10/03/2011

Thank goodness some states have passed laws against this now. They can still do it though, they just have to go around the may-pole. A cop retires from the city, takes his pension, then goes to work for the county sheriff's dept and gets another pension.......

[jmpurser]

07:47 PM on 10/03/2011

So what?  And why would anyone make this illegal?  That makes no sense at all.

[colred]

07:50 PM on 10/03/2011

Again I agree with you.

[Boomerwoman]

06:08 PM on 10/03/2011

Oh come on HuffPo...this is done by retired military and retired civilians on SS. No surprise here!

[colred]

07:48 PM on 10/03/2011

Thank you. What's with this?

[StopMakingSense2]

05:05 PM on 10/03/2011

So? Many in the private sector do too. A pension has noting to do with income. It's a benefit you get at a certain date. You can work or not. So the media found a few people who aren't living the republican version of the American scream and they must be punished?

[adv08840]

04:00 PM on 10/03/2011

This is not new. The county workers and cops here have been doing it for years. You only have to work for 20 years then draw your pension and get your job back.

[sgentilejr]

03:11 PM on 10/03/2011

The Truth is: The States and the Federal Government are FORCED into offering to rehire their retired workers because when they post those job opening they cannot find any Qualified job applicants to fill the jobs. Or the applicants they hire cannot actually do the work because of their lack of knowledge and experience. For example: The US Post Office was forced to hire dozens on Upper Level managers that retired as consultants___Why? Because the people they hired or promoted into those vacant positions had absolutely no idea of what they were doing and the older workers who retired had to be begged to come back and try train those hired as their replacements. When employers cannot find workers with the skills required__-they have to look for alternatives.

[colred]

07:50 PM on 10/03/2011

Good point. They've made public employment so unattractive, that they can't get skilled workers.

[dknowles60]

11:01 PM on 10/05/2011

the gov wouldnt have this problem if they train replacement. it funey delta airlines has polits to replace one when one retires why cant the over paid fed gov do this. its a management problen

[nbj5215]

02:31 PM on 10/03/2011

I guess I am triple dipping retired navy , retired merchant marine (union) and drawing social security

[jmpurser]

03:32 PM on 10/03/2011

You SHAMELESSLY profit from your dirty little WORKING FOR A LIVING!?!?