Putting a damper on 'double-dippers'
With its high number of retirees, Florida has a massive problem with "double-dippers" -- retirees who return to the job market. Some lawmakers think it's unfair with unemployment so high. Sally Herships reports.
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Renita Jablonski: It's never fun to catch a double-dipper at a cocktail party. It can be pretty gross. That stomach-turning feeling is also being described by some lawmakers when it comes to a different kind of double-dipper: people who retire from a government job and get another job. Sally Herships filed this report.
Sally Herships: Double-dipping is reaching epidemic proportions in Florida. State Senator Mike Fasano thinks so, anyway. He's trying to close a loophole in Florida's retirement law. Right now, some government workers can retire, start collecting their pension. and after 30 days go right back to work. They get paid and they get a pension: they double-dip.
Mike Fasano: They shouldn't be allowed to come back and double-dip while we have such high unemployment rates.
The worst thing, Fasano says, is that Florida municipalities are hiring double-dippers and cutting jobs at the same time.
We're gonna have to lay some people off at the state government, at the county government and at the city government. How do you look that person in the eye and say we're going to do away with your job, but we're going to keep the double-dipper on?
State and city governments all over the country are hiring double-dippers. It sounds controversial, but Max Stier of the Partnership for Public Service, says retirees are often the best candidates for the job:
Max Stier: "They've already been trained. They can hit the ground running. They know what the problems are, and you know how good they are, and you can pick the very best.
Stier says double dippers can be the cheapest option for municipalities. Two years ago, for example, he says the state department brought back retired employees to get through a massive backlog of passport applications.
Stier: Now an alternative would have been for all of those people to go work for a contractor and for the government to hire the contractor and no one would have said, "boo" but the American people would have been out a lot more money.
Double-dipping has attracted legislator's attention in New Jersey, New York and Alabama.
Bob Behn is a lecturer at Harvard's school of government. He says if someone double-dips in the private sector, nobody bats an eye. But when public money's at stake double-dippers inspire moral outrage. Behn says that's unfair.
Bob Behn: I don't think that people are behaving badly. They are actually behaving in a way that makes sense according to the rules.
Those rules vary widely. Some states have already made it more difficult to collect a pension and a paycheck at the same time.
I'm Sally Herships for Marketplace.
Comments
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From Little Rock, AR, 04/07/2009
*edit - [error in earlier comment]Instead of keeping tired and fed-up employees around until the expire, invigorate the entire process by allowing older well trained workers to 'show their stuff' passing on wisdom to the new generation; giving them back the public service passion they had when they were fresh. Someone will have to take this eventually; why not create a workable and profitable solution instead of making 40 more laws?
From Little Rock, AR, 04/07/2009
Each State has it's own rules on Retirement, Being on the Drop, and the returning to work rules. Each State having its' own say on how it runs its' State Government is a tenent of American independence from the ironclad rule of one Governing force.
Every problem doesn't require a new law. Even at State level. There has to be a workable solution that doesn't require more legislation. Perhaps an apprenticeship program for retirees to be able to bring extra to the table without taking viable jobs for the new generation of workers who have to take it eventually.
By keeping tired and fed-up retirees in these jobs until they expire, invigorate the entire operation by peer to peer experience and training.
Thank You.
From Silver Spring, MD, 04/06/2009
I agree with the commentors who take the position that the person's pension is earned and should not be a constraint to the person working. However, there should be an exclusion when a person retires from an organization and is later hired BY THE SAME ORGANIZATION. If they wished to continue for the organization, they should be allowed to continue and return from that specific group when they wish (or move into part-time work or the like). But to retire from a place and later return to the same place strikes me as somehow not right. The reality is that with the exception of gov work and the military there are very very few defined benefit pension plans in the private sector. These are the people penalized when forced out of work with an inadequate lump sum arrangement. Our pension laws are sorely in need of reworking.
From Caro, 04/06/2009
I have returned to work after retiring. He is saying because i worked for 30 years and EARNED my retirement I should not get it because I have to continue to work to help support this damn country!
From Milwaukee, WI, 04/06/2009
I also resent the term "double-dipper". This is pay for new work, not being paid twice for the same work. I receive a government pension and am working for a different municipality in order to pay for the health insurance that I could no longer afford after I retired (the politicians split out the retirees and jacked the price way up to push us out of the group). In the current job I work full time, but have no benefits and get no Social Security credit. I would love to have the health insurance that the FL legislators receive at taxpayer expense - many of whom may also have jobs outside of their legislative service. Hypocrisy? You bet.
From Pensacola, FL, 04/06/2009
I was not a government employee, but was forced to take a lump sum amount for retirement when the company I worked for closed my office. The lump sum had to be invested due to my age. Like every one else I had a diversified portfolio which is now all but gone, due to the market. I have been re-hired through a contingent work force to work for the same company in different locations & work 12 hours a day 7 days a week as required with absolutely no benefits. This company has found out like others that the 55-75 age group is far more dependable and motivated with a greater work ethic than the new hires. Experience is also a tremendous plus. I would also like to point out that if any retiree on social security takes a job & is paid a salary in excess of $12,000 that they have to pay the social security benefits all back. My concern with any such legislation is that it may be too broad and not may not make allowances for situations such as mine. Thank You
From Orfordville, WI, 04/06/2009
First off, when most double-dippers go back to work it is as part time employees and not full time employees. So, the pay is not the same and benefits are reduced which is how money is saved. At least these people are working for their money. If they want to bring in more tax revenue bring back the Paris Hilton tax (inheritance) for people who have money because of their birth and not their work.
From Richmond, VA, 04/06/2009
Does this also apply to those who have retired from the military or someone on Social Security? The reality is a number of employers hire retired people because it is a good deal for business and the retiree.
From San Antonio, TX, 04/06/2009
Double-dipping is an incorrect term as used in this story. Retired people with a pension are receiving a deferred payment on money previously earned and set aside. When they go back to work, they are being paid for new work they are doing. If they worked one job and got paid twice for the same time and work, that would be double-dipping.
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