Retire & Rehire

[RockaFowler]

http://www.wptv.com/content/news/centralpbc/story/Retire-and-Rehire/cAGD0kH0h0qwPQ9EE97NsA.cspx

Some states outlaw this sort of double-dipping, but not Florida. What Palm Beach County Airports Director Bruce Pelly is doing, is perfectly legal in the state of Florida. He's simply exercising his rights as a state employee. But in many other states, this is not legal. According to information from the Palm Beach Post, Pelly's current salary is $197,000 per year. As soon as Pelly retires, he's entitled to collect a $304,000 payout from the state.

Then, Pelly will be rehired by the county administrator at his annual salary of $197,000. But, there's still more money coming Pelly's way. Once he starts working again, he'll also be getting a check for $5,914 in retirement checks every month. Once again, this is perfectly legal in Florida, but that's all about to change. A new law goes into effect starting July 1, 2010, requiring Florida state employees to wait at least six months before going back to work. Pelly admits this is one reason he has decided to retire today.


So Palm Beach County is in debt and we now have to pay this guy 2x. I love people who cheat the system . . . :eyes:

[Zywiec]

1. How is he cheating the system?

As you said, everything is legal.

:shrug:

[FLDCVADem]

2. I don't see it as cheating either

He earned the retirement pay, and he'll earn the pay that he gets for doing the job.

[RockaFowler]

6. Maybe I'm missing something

If you retire, why should you go back to the same job 30 days later?? If you retire - retire. It's Jay Leno all over again. Now he's gonna go back to the same job and receive the retirement pay and the salary. Shouldn't he then give up the retirement pay?? He's no longer retired.

[SoCalDem]

10. Retirement was a way to weed out the oldsters, and to open up job positions

for the younger folks within the company. Usually by the time someone retires, they are at their peak of earnings too, so their retirement allows the company to move people in line, up a notch, and to have that no-longer-paid high salary, to give out to the ones who moved up..

Giving the guy his pension, and then rehiring him, is insane..and must play hell with the morale of his fellow workers:(

many people retire, and then take a different job..often with fewer responsibilities and perhaps even part time..just to keep busy...but to reclaim your old job at the same pay , seems wrong..

[RockaFowler]

4. He's taking advantage of the system

Plus, the law will change in July. He said that was his reason for retiring now. Wouldn't you love to collect both paychecks and do 1 job? Why can't he just wait to retire completely??

[FLDCVADem]

5. Why should he?

The law allows, and he earned the retirement.

Plus, unless I misread the OP, the law won't outlaw this practice, it will just make people wait six months.

I did 20 years in the military and draw a retirement check. I'm also a federal employee drawing a salary. Should I not be able to do that?

[Obamanaut]

3. If the current rules of the system allow this, it is not cheating the system, but

rather taking advantage of the current system.

[zipplewrath]

7. I don't object

I don't object to Pelly getting his retirement pay, for which he has worked. I don't object to Florida altering its laws, as long as those who already earned their retirement pay get it.

Retirement is a complicated fiscal equation and momentary variations like this need to be seen in the larger context. I have money in the bank I've been saving for a couple of decades. No one would complain if I now started taking that money and using it. Pelly has money in a "retirement bank" and he wants to start spending it, especially before anything happens that might make him "lose" it. I'd do the same. The state may want to change its rules to avoid encouraging people to retire, merely for fiscal reasons. But really, this isn't costing the state a dime, if they've already "socked away" the money that Pelly has been earning all these years.

I think the state has an interest in doing their retirement differently. And I think alot of us need to rethink the idea of saving retirement money in the "company bank" so to speak. My company has a defined benefit retirement program and they foolishly don't "encourage" people to retire and work for vastly less cash on a part time basis. It allows the company to maintain access to the talent, opens up slots for newer, younger, cheaper talent that can than train under the support of the part time talent.

[JDPriestly]

8. Your reasoning is flawed.

You don't have to pay him 2x because he is cheating.

You have to pay him 2x because you entered into a contract under which he agreed to defer receiving some of the pay to which he was entitled if it was invested in a pension fund, and you agreed to pay him his pension when he reached a certain age.

Pensions are a form of deferred pay.

They are in that sense, very much like 401(K)s. With the 401(K), the employee defers taking immediate possession of a certain amount of his or her paycheck, the employer puts the money in a 401(K) account, and the government, also a party, agrees to defer the taxes of the employee on the amount placed in the 401(K) account.

Unions sometimes negotiate pensions which are also a form of deferred pay.

So pensions are deferred pay.

So is Social Security although Social Security is usually said to be a form of insurance.

So you are paying the guy something you owe him.

[JackintheGreen]

9. I love this game

I really do.

My own father worked for the State of IL his entire career. A few years back, IL was trying to close a budget shortfall and was offering early retirement in order to reduce payroll through attrition rather than lay-offs. My dad was sick of the BS that counts for IL govt and decided to take the offer and retire, maybe 5 years before he was thinking about doing it anyway.

Well, dumbass IL didn't actually have anybody qualified to do the job that he just left (I don't pretend to understand the details) but they had to take him back on a contract basis in order to get certain required things completed. They even renewed his contract. Then he was shifted to an external company to do the same work that would have been cheaper to do in house (ie. with govt. employees)

As far as I know, IL still has its collective head up its collective ass, but dad tells me he's retired for good now.