High Pensions for retired School Officials (company, island, paid)

[bg7]

Work here for 20 years then get 100K for LIFE! Tax-free!
Sign me up if I'd known that 15 years ago or so.

[dman72]

Originally Posted by bg7

Work here for 20 years then get 100K for LIFE! Tax-free!
Sign me up if I'd known that 15 years ago or so.

20 year retirements for cops and firefighters have been the norm for many, many years.

30 year retirements/59 yrs whichever comes first have also been the norm for many years for teachers. That information was public 15 years back if you had simply looked into it. My dad always used to tell me to get a public job because the pension and benefits were so good. I didn't listen, but my wife did, luckily for both of us. We make almost the exact same salary, but her job is worth a good 20 to 30% more because of pension and time off.

Growing up, I knew my cop uncle would be able to retire after 20 years..he worked for 30 because he didn't actually have to do any work beside write tickets (richie north shore village) so why would he, but that's besides the point.

These things weren't secret...people have been complaining about public employee compensation in NY for as long as I've been alive.

[Yzette]

Originally Posted by kmrlongisland

Using your sick days when not sick is "abuse" and unethical. The sick day benefit is an insurance policy paid for by the company that pays your salary if you cannot work due to being sick. No company I worked for accrued sick-days, it is a benefit that is provided to you by the company. To put in a claim for a sick day when not sick is just wrong.

No company or organization you worked for ever let you accrue sick days? No offense, but you've worked for some pretty crappy companies! Even the cheapest of cheap companies I've run into on Long Island gave people at least 3 sick days. Most gave 5 or 7. All of them put the days into your "bank" on the first working day of the year. Same with vacations. If you used them all and then left before they end of the year, they'd just dock your last paycheck on a prorated amount. It was kind of a backarsewards system, actually, but I had to chuckle because it was so Long Island in its convolution and bureaucracy. They couldn't seem to understand the concept of accrual (ie. adding 4 hours of sick leave or 6.67 hours of vacation time to your balance per paycheck). A lot of people turned in resignations effective January 2 to avoid getting docked. They also had this issue where you had to take leave in four-hour increments, so if you went to the dentist on your lunch hour and took an extra hour, they'd still charge you four hours of time for it. It was stupid, because then people would just not come back to work that afternoon when the would have returned if they could have taken time in two-hour increments. I guess the Long Island companies I worked for were too cheap to install the programs or hire the HR people who would administer such things. Or maybe it's the difference between the for-profit world and the non-profit, as most of my experience is with large non-profits.

The moral outrage about sick days is just silly. I've had bosses call me and tell me, "I'm taking a sick day today." "Oh, feel better!" "Meh, it's a mental health day."

I guess I've just worked for really cool places with really cool people.

In Virginia.

Anyway, I don't know about all civil servants, but at least one department stocks leave at the beginning of the year, and they do "vacation picks." Those with seniority tend to get time in the best months (summer), and the new people get stuck with February and October. They get X number of sick days per year, and if they are out more than two days they need a doctor's note. They can also take personal time in two-hour increments. That's par for course with the organizations and companies I've worked with.

Honestly, I'd never heard of anyone lumping sick, vacation, and personal leave together as "paid time off" until I moved up here.

[kmrlongisland]

Originally Posted by Yzette

No company or organization you worked for ever let you accrue sick days? No offense, but you've worked for some pretty crappy companies!.

Never said the companies I worked for did not let employees accrue sick days I said the companies did not associate a money value with sick days. I am pretty sure the "crappy" companies I've worked for are considered best of breed, globally.

[dman72]

My company is cheap with sick and vaca days, but my boss has a habit of not bothering to book for single days I take off, which ends up paying off nicely.

[rh71]

Originally Posted by kmrlongisland

Never said the companies I worked for did not let employees accrue sick days I said the companies did not associate a money value with sick days. I am pretty sure the "crappy" companies I've worked for are considered best of breed, globally.

You mentioned IBM before - they give unlimited sick days... and not many people even take them.

[bg7]

Originally Posted by dman72

20 year retirements for cops and firefighters have been the norm for many, many years.

30 year retirements/59 yrs whichever comes first have also been the norm for many years for teachers. That information was public 15 years back if you had simply looked into it. My dad always used to tell me to get a public job because the pension and benefits were so good. I didn't listen, but my wife did, luckily for both of us. We make almost the exact same salary, but her job is worth a good 20 to 30% more because of pension and time off.

Growing up, I knew my cop uncle would be able to retire after 20 years..he worked for 30 because he didn't actually have to do any work beside write tickets (richie north shore village) so why would he, but that's besides the point.

These things weren't secret...people have been complaining about public employee compensation in NY for as long as I've been alive.

Say what you like - but the benefits and deals have only really been opened up to scrutiny (and interest) and wider general knowledge in the last five years or so - principally because (1) now we're strapped for cash as a state people are really looking into where the money is spent instead of general notions of "we have to control spending" and (2) on top of that pensions are becoming an increasing percentage each year of the budget....

[dman72]

Originally Posted by bg7

Say what you like - but the benefits and deals have only really been opened up to scrutiny (and interest) and wider general knowledge in the last five years or so - principally because (1) now we're strapped for cash as a state people are really looking into where the money is spent instead of general notions of "we have to control spending" and (2) on top of that pensions are becoming an increasing percentage each year of the budget....

Key part in bold. The information was always there, but not enough people cared that much until the economy went bad.

I'm not saying that certain municipal workers don't have bloated compensaton..they do and it should definitely come more in line with the private sector. The draw to teaching police and fire jobs used to be job security and benefits. You would get paid less than you did in private sector areas, but the trade off was the fringe stuff.

Now the salaries, benefits, and job security are superior, and the mechanisms are in place to resist anyone changing the situation.

[Yzette]

Originally Posted by kmrlongisland

Never said the companies I worked for did not let employees accrue sick days I said the companies did not associate a money value with sick days. I am pretty sure the "crappy" companies I've worked for are considered best of breed, globally.

Perhaps this is a figment of City-Data's collective imagination:

Originally Posted by kmrlongisland

Using your sick days when not sick is "abuse" and unethical. The sick day benefit is an insurance policy paid for by the company that pays your salary if you cannot work due to being sick. No company I worked for accrued sick-days, it is a benefit that is provided to you by the company. To put in a claim for a sick day when not sick is just wrong.

[Goodnight]

Originally Posted by rh71

You mentioned IBM before - they give unlimited sick days... and not many people even take them.

and they cash them in at retirement?