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| Posted: Mar Mar 25, 2007 11:38 am Post subject: APP - Public Workers Double Dip On Jobs |
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Public workers double dip on jobs
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/25/07
BY JASON METHOD
STAFF WRITER
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Public employment has been very good for Leo J. Schaeffer and Brian W. Ingraham.
So good, in fact, that each has two full-time government jobs and enrollment in two different government pension systems.
Both work as full-time firefighters for the Cranford Township Fire Department, which entitles them to pension benefits from the state's Police and Firemen's Retirement System.
They also work at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. That entitles them to pension benefits from the state's Public Employees' Retirement System.
Each receive two health benefits packages worth thousands of dollars.
They both racked up tens of thousands of dollars in overtime last year — Schaeffer took in $32,557 and Ingraham was paid $22,362 — at the Turnpike while working a four-day work week in order to fit in their firefighter jobs.
Schaeffer, 31, was paid about $154,000 in taxpayer money in 2006, and Ingraham, 31, was paid about $118,000. Both also re-ceived take-home cars from the Turnpike — in case they ever had to respond to an emergency for the roadway authority.
And what are their jobs? They ensure that the Turnpike's rest areas remain clean for the public.
Schaeffer acknowledged that he did have two jobs, but declined to comment further; Ingraham could not be reached for comment.
Not isolated cases
At a time when New Jersey is dealing with a pension funding crisis, an estimated 500 public employees were paid for two different jobs while enrolled in two pension systems, an Asbury Park Press analysis shows.
The full list of 2006 enrollees in the Police and Firemen's retirement fund can be found at the Asbury Park Press's public records site, www.app.com/DataUniverse.
Click on the "Police and Firefighters 2006" link to search by name or agency. The data will show the salary payments of 43,000 local police officers and firefighters in 2006, along with the year they were hired.
While the 500 employees with a foot in both retirement systems are a fraction of all government workers in the state, at least 28 were paid salaries last year of more than $30,000 a year in each job. That doesn't include overtime or bonuses.
Two dozen employees were paid more than $100,000 in their combined jobs.
The findings show the latest example of pension and salary padding by public employees at a time when the state is considering leasing or selling state assets, such as the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike, in order to cover an estimated $18 billion unfunded liability in the pension systems for government workers.
Taking action
As a result of the Press' questions about specific employees this week, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority announced Friday that overtime by nonessential personnel must now be approved by a deputy director.
The Essex County sheriff said his office was launching an internal affairs investigation into two of its employees holding other public jobs.
Meanwhile, Cranford's deputy mayor said the subject of Schaeffer, Ingraham and two others working outside the department would be discussed at Monday's Township Committee meeting.
"The average New Jerseyan would be appalled (at the practice), and expect the public workers be committed to public service and performing one job at peak efficiency," said David P. Rebovich, a Rider University political science professor.
"It even raises the question of whether they are gainfully employed all the time they are in both jobs, or are they simply punching a clock and collecting enormous pensions," Rebovich added.
Treasury spokesman Thomas Vincz said the state did not immediately have a list of how many employees have retired and received multiple state pensions. Vincz did release a 2005 list of 200 state employees who held multiple jobs that would be added together to increase their pensions.
What are the rules?
Vincz said no rules prohibit public employees from holding multiple jobs in multiple pension systems, and no rules cap the pensions such employees could receive. But he added that in nearly all circumstances, employees cannot retire from one pension system, take another job, and work toward a second pension.
The employees are not required to notify their respective government employers about their other jobs, Vincz added.
A state joint legislative committee had recommended that the state bar employees from combining jobs in order to increase their pensions. But the full Legislature failed to include that recommendation in a package of pension reform bills that await the governor's approval.
The Legislature also has not addressed the issue of employees qualifying in multiple pension systems.
Flexible hours
The multiple jobs are possible because many police and fire departments work unusual shifts.
Police, for example, routinely work two or three 12-hour shifts and then allow employees several days off. Full-time firefighters often work 24-hour shifts and are then given three days off.
The long shifts cut down on overtime and allow police and firefighters to finish with incidents that occur instead of having to change shifts during operations.
The shifts also open up plenty of time for other work.
Francis W. Kemp, for example, an employee who made one of the highest combined salaries in the Press' analysis — $169,224 — said that he worked as a captain with the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue Squad and as a researcher at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.
Kemp said he retired last year from the rescue squad after 25 years, but managed to work his schedule so that the two jobs never conflicted. The fire department required him to work 24-hour shifts with three days off after that.
Working the two jobs posed "no problems at all," Kemp said. "I just coordinated the days and what I have to do."
Kemp said he researches subjects for UMDNJ such as metals contamination in the environment and food. He said he has been the author or co-author of 49 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, but he declined to produce a list.
Anthony P. Vecchio, a firefighter at the South Orange Village Fire Department, held four other jobs last year that paid a total of $172,882, according to pension records. He was the Keyport fire marshal, fire inspector and code enforcement officer, the Avon fire subcode official, the assistant Monmouth County fire marshal, and had an unspecified job in Keansburg, according to pension and payroll records.
Reached at his Avon job last week, Vecchio declined to discuss his multiple jobs.
"No, I'm not going to talk about my personal life. That's crazy," Vecchio said.
Keyport Borough Administrator Peter Valesi said Vecchio is required to be in Tuesday and Thursday for his $33,000-a-year full-time post. He does not have to work 40 hours a week, but must fulfill his duties, Valesi said.
Valesi said the borough does not have any rules barring employees from working elsewhere and doesn't mind if Vecchio has other jobs.
"He (Vecchio) fulfills the duties he performs here," Valesi said. "I don't have an issue."
The same feeling was echoed by South Orange Fire Chief Jeffrey Markey. Vecchio was paid nearly $110,000 last year, with some overtime, as a lieutenant in the department.
"I'm only concerned about what he does working for us, and he (Vecchio) is an excellent employee," Markey said.
Essex County Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura, however, said he has an issue with two of his sheriff's officers working as a custodian and security officer at Newark schools.
Fontoura said his department allows officers to work no more than 20 hours per week elsewhere, and then only with departmental permission.
But records show Robert Hall, who was paid $70,320 as a sheriff's officer, also was paid $59,611 for his school custodian job. Officer Dwayne Williams, paid $68,636 in 2006 by the sheriff, also was paid $40,624 as a security guard.
The consequences
"We have our internal affairs officers at the Board of Education as we speak," Fontoura said last week. "We have an active investigation right now to find out how many hours they worked. If they violated our policy, they'll have some serious problems."
Fontoura said if the men violated policy, they would be suspended without pay pending a department hearing. Discipline could include the loss of their sheriff's jobs.
The Newark school district did not respond to calls and e-mails requesting comment. Neither Hall nor Williams could be reached for comment.
Big dippers
But among the state's double-dippers, Cranford's fire department stood out. Four of the department's 29 members last year had second public jobs, according to pension records.
Firefighters John Talbot and George McGrath worked outside the department. Records show Talbot is employed at the East Brunswick fire district, where he was paid about $31,000 in 2006, and McGrath in Mountainside, where he was paid about $37,000. It could not be determined what they did at their second jobs.
All told, Talbot was paid $115,000 from both jobs, and McGrath was paid $113,000 last year, according to records.
Then there are Schaeffer and Ingraham.
They work in the Turnpike's patron services department, where their job is to inspect rest areas to make sure they are clean and maintained. They also must ensure that the companies leasing space at the rest stops adhere to their contracts.
Their supervisor, Ray Ashworth, who was paid $102,000 in salary and $37,000 in overtime in 2006, allowed the two men to work reduced-hour work weeks.
In their case, he allowed them to work 80 percent of the time at 80 percent of their regular salaries, Turnpike spokesman Joseph Orlando said.
However, Orlando said, the union contracts stipulate that anyone who works more than seven hours in a day must receive time-and-a-half overtime pay.
That's how Schaeffer worked 604.5 overtime hours in 2006, and Ingraham worked 478 hours in overtime, Orlando said.
"They were permitted to work more hours in the day, and then accumulate overtime on the days they were actually working for the authority, based on their contracts," Orlando said.
As of Monday morning, however, the nine Turnpike employees with reduced work weeks will no longer be eligible for overtime, Orlando said.
Orlando said Turnpike officials were aware of the men's other jobs, and made sure they were not being paid for any day they identified as a day off as part of their reduced work-week schedule.
Paying double
Cranford Township Deputy Mayor Robert I. Puhak expressed concerns about the firefighters.
When asked about the employees' extra job, Puhak — who holds a doctorate degree in applied mathematics and works for the Goldman Sachs investment firm — quickly added up the pay and benefits.
"Yeow! Incredible," Puhak exclaimed Thursday while looking at the overtime numbers. "Wow. It certainly raises a flag when you see these figures. Certainly, it begs the question.
Puhak said the matter would be discussed at Monday's committee meeting. He said he wasn't pleased the township had to pay for health benefits for Schaeffer and Ingraham when they were already covered by health benefits at the Turnpike Authority.
"I'd like to see what we can do about duplication of benefits so we're not paying double," Puhak added. "You have to look at double dipping and how that affects taxes. . . . That doesn't seem right to me."
Investigations Editor Paul D'Ambrosio contributed to this report.
TOMORROW: Rutgers University salaries.
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I dont think it is rediciulous wanting to know where our tax dollars are going.
Why are we paying for these men to have 2 health care plans each? Why are we paying for them to have 2 pensions? This just isnt right.
If they hold more then 1 state job, they should only be entitled to 1 health care plan and 1 pension. Do you know how much money this would save us?
Posted by: appalled on Sun Mar 25, 2007 10:17 am
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Why do you think that it is soooooooooooo expensive to live in this state. it is because people are allowed to work less than 40 hours and collect multiple huge pensions. it is a rip off what these public employees do to the people of this state. while everyone has to sacrifice in their jobs, these people are collecting 2 pensions for working less than a 40 hour work week.
Posted by: jm07719 on Sun Mar 25, 2007 10:17 am
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how are "all these people criminals"? I'm not suggesting it is right, but they haven't broken any law ... and while I don't have the cushy situation they do it seems they merely took advantage of a broken system. So the APP hunts them down and asks for a comment? Please. This paper gets more ridiculous every day.
Posted by: whatevs on Sun Mar 25, 2007 10:08 am
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ALL THESE PEOPLE ARE CRIMINALS! ITS THAT SIMPLE!
THEY ARE STEALING FROM THE TAXPAYERS AND TAKING OTHERWISE FULL TIME PUBLIC JOBS FROM HONEST YOUNG FAMILIES THAT NEED A JOB TO SUPPORT THEIR FAMILIES.
WHER ARE THE SH*T FACE COUNTY PROSECUTORS ON THESE CRIMINALS!
WHERE IS THE STATE ATTORNEY GENERALS INVESTIGATIONS.
WELL MR CHRISTIE: I GUESS YOU NEED TO ANTE UP AGAIN AND GET RID OF THIS SCUM IN NJ ALSO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND EVEN WORSE, THESE ARE PROBABLY PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT COMPETENT ENOUGH TO GET A REAL JOB ON THEIR ON IN THIS WORLD.
WAKE UP NJ THESE ARE CRIMINALS STEALING YOUR $$$$$
AND PUTTING YOUR PUBLIC SAFETY AT RISK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: WINR on Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:53 am
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I read the article in the APP this morning ,I was outraged that someone was maKING 154,000 IN taxpayers money and the guy who works for the turnpike also gets a free car plus gas ,his job....cleaning the rest stops on the turnpike ...WHAT ! you must be kidding
Posted by: sierra on Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:50 am |
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