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Econwatch

December 3, 2009 8:36 AM

Print
Text

States Take on "Double Dipping" Retirees

By: Daniel Carty
Topics: Retirement

(CBS/AP)

Some states are looking to prevent public employees from "double dipping" – collecting pension benefits while still holding a government job, according to a USA Today report Thursday.

In some areas, government employees are allowed to "retire" in order to begin collecting retirement benefits only to quickly return to work, and their normal paychecks. But for many states battered by the economy, that loophole must be closed.

While there are no exact figures on the number of "double dippers," some states have identified thousands, according to the report.

So far, Utah, New Mexico, South Dakota, Florida and Arkansas are looking to curb the practice through legislation – either through outright banning it or instituting a minimum length of time that employees must stay retired before returning to work.

16 Comments +

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by proudmilvet December 3, 2009 8:41 PM EST: Oh, left out one job. While this guy was a Town Supervisor & head of the N.Y.State Lottery Commission, he was also the Nassau County Republican Chairman, while having his own Law Practice! Quadruple dipping anyone?; Reply to this comment


by proudmilvet December 3, 2009 8:18 PM EST: Years ago i used to live on Long Island N.Y. We had a Republican Politician who had a Lucrative private Law practice, was also being paid as a Presiding Town Supervisor & as Head of the N.Y.State Lottery Commission. Today he still has a Law Practice, & is now RNC Chairman for the State of N.Y. I Guess Double or even Triple Dipping does'nt count for Politicians. Especially Republicans. Like Leona Helmsley once said, "Only the Little People pay Taxes."; Reply to this comment

by proudmilvet December 3, 2009 8:05 PM EST

Members of Congress get a whopping salary with benefits & can get a pension after serving only one term in office & you want to pick on the average worker? What about Multi-Millionaire Sports figures. How about Hollywood celebrities who earn 20 million dollars per picture. Or TV Stars who earn one million dollars per episode. How about Rush Limbaugh who sits on his Big Fat Behind in front of a microphone spewing hate for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, He signs an 8 year contract for $400 Million Dollars! No, pick on the average worker or Military Retiree trying to make ends meet! This Country makes me Sick !!

Reply to this comment


by gramto8 December 5, 2009 6:46 PM EST: I fully agree, proudmilvet!! Although I personally am not a 'retiree', my late husband retired from the USAF after 20+ years. He, therefore, did not get 'full retirement benefits', though he did get a percentage. Now that he is dead, I am receiving Survivor's Benefits... for which my late husband paid EVERY MONTH from the time of his retirement in 1977 until the last retirement check he got from DOD. Because his percentage was so low (the 'full retirement' time is after 30 years service) the percentage of HIS retirement that I get wasn't enough for me to maintain our home. I lost it the first of December to foreclosure. I made it six and a half years after he died, but finally the amount of my mortgage payment had me drowning.
BTW, in case anyone else is affected by them, Ocwen Mortgage Servicing and Wells Fargo are the two entities that kicked me out. I was in the middle of what I was told was mortgage adjustment. Suddenly, I had a letter stating that my home was selling the first Tuesday of December... NO PRIOR NOTICE AT ALL! I hope that Ocwen and Wells Fargo pay dearly for what they have done to so many people... many thousands have been hit in the exact way I was. They, like me, get 'adjusted' right out of their homes. Someday, those people will pay.... Karma is a b---h.


by havasuman December 6, 2009 10:15 AM EST: Except for military service, government retirement program are a joke. They are so far removed from reality, its ridiculous. Our country is founded on free enterprise and the laws of supply and demand. The way most government entities are run would never survive in the private enterprise market. Especially these retirement programs for government workers. There are virtually no private small businesses that offer retirement programs anywhere close to what government offers because they operate in the real (competitive) world and cannot afford to pay out unrealistic benefits, and neither can our government. Your comparison is a joke. Lumping congressmen in with TV stars and Rush is a joke. Movie stars and Rush make their money on the open market. They are not being paid by U.S. tax payer. They are making their money through free enterprise. They have earned that right through free enterprise. They are not sucking of the American tax payer.

by rockcutr December 3, 2009 7:01 PM EST

Why is it so hard for anyone to see the contradiction of being "retired" and "working" at the same time.
Pick one. Scumbags should not be allowed to have it both ways. Ok, granted you served your country. Now you expect because of that, you get paid twice for your civilian time? But, it is ok since it is a Government Job....ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Effectively is what you are doing is getting in on your retirement moneys way before non government citizens can. If you get the money before the standard retirement age, so to should every other citizen in the US. Just what is it that you all seem to think it is that makes you "Special"?
Way to go to our Government for allowing this to happen.

Reply to this comment


by Konaboy1214 June 13, 2011 3:14 PM EDT: Ok rockcutr, you obviously have never been in the military. I have served for 14 years now. The reason we get a retirement after 20+ years is because the toll on our bodies is so traumatic that alot of us cannot even work, or have a tough time finding work after our service. I personally have had three surgeries on my right ankle, two surgeries on my right knee, a hernia left groin, left wrist surgery, dislocated left shoulder, dislocated rib bone from my sternum, and my left thumb was almost amputated from an up-armored truck door. I still cannot use it, the bone is broken in four places and the tendon will only let it go halfway down. Now I gave up my cushy job, where the worst injury I could incur was a papercut, much like your pansy butt. But I chose this lifestyle of being away from my family, giving up certain rights that you enjoy at the expense of myself and those that came before me. Many of my fellow service members gave all while you give so little, Thank a Vet for doing what you did not have the heart to do. Like missing birthdays of your three little boys when it breaks your heart, but you still do what you have to do so that others may not know the suffering of so many.

by balto_babs December 3, 2009 6:48 PM EST

I think the term "double dipping" is insulting to the millions of public employees. These are middle class workers who EARNED these benefits, often taking lower paying government jobs with the PROMISE of a decent pension at retirement. The expectation of surviving on the ANY pension, public or private, has become a FANTASY.

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by havasuman December 6, 2009 10:22 AM EST: Oh really? They took these underpaying jobs BECAUSE they are cush jobs with low expectations on performance, and pay out unrealistic retirement benefits that cannot be had in the private sector. Or they could not get a decent paying job in the private sector because they are not "cream of the crop" employee prospects, or lack the skills to compete for good paying jobs in the private sector. Either way, these pensions are a joke, and a huge part of our government debt.


by Konaboy1214 June 13, 2011 3:18 PM EDT: @havasuman, In my government job, living in a tent in the freezing cold, eating Meals Ready to Eat, and not being with your family on their birthdays, christmas, or anniversary. That must be the cush job you were talking about. Or watching your laundry and mail burn to the ground because the truck that was carrying these things was attacked with an RPG? Or cush you mean losing functionality of most of your body parts due to physical trauma? Please enlighten me.

by sjc_1 December 3, 2009 12:49 PM EST

There are military officers that retire in the 40s with a full pension and then take a job elsewhere. I do not think that they should have a full pension until they are 65 or disabled.

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by ajvw December 3, 2009 1:43 PM EST: ignorant comment


by tomster1960 December 3, 2009 10:43 AM EST: I don't think that will include you since you are military and on the federal level. I don't think the states will be able to mess with the federal civil service workers and military.; Reply to this comment

by marinecwo2 December 3, 2009 9:23 AM EST

Does that include the military. I want to retire after 20 years and be able to go to work in a government job right away. My military retirement is not enough to sustain my family. It covers a mortgage payment and thats it.

Reply to this comment


by ajvw December 3, 2009 11:23 AM EST: If you work for a state or local government it won't apply to you. Can't say about the Fed.


by havasuman December 6, 2009 10:28 AM EST: I am all for serving in the military, and getting benefits. But if you choose to take a government job after retiring from the military and you are collecting retirement, you should not be entitled to take another government job and collect benefits from that job. Again, the benefits our government pays our (except military) are so unrealistic when compared to free enterprise business its a joke.