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Apparently you're not as current as you think you are. The caps are back in place. The incentive has expired.
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Originally Posted by pdcnret
Do you think that everything has a link to it? There is no link. It's common knowledge among county employees.
Just ask any county cop who now wishes he had taken advantage of the incentive package. The proposed restructuring of the Department has many regretting their choice not to take the incentive.
When did the incentive expire?
And maybe there's no link because Newsday, in all of its crappy reporting, is guilty of bias by omission.
Most private companies don't hire replacement personnel when someone calls in sick. The police department, as a 24/7 public safety agency, needs to ensure sufficient staffing is present to do the job. Officers who call in sick are replaced -- on overtime because there are a limited number of bodies to go around. Since cops are contractually entitled to a number of days of sick leave each year, it is clearly in the Department's interest to pay straight time to a retiring officer who doesn't use sick leave he is entitled to than it is to pay overtime to his replacement.
The issue of sick leave in the police department is handled quite differently than in the civilian world. An officer who calls in sick must remain confined to his residence for the period he is sick and cannot leave without express permission from a supervisor. Any officer who calls in sick can expect to be visited by a supervisor at any time of his confinement in order to verify that he is indeed sick (and home). And any officer who abuses sick leave can expect to have a number of sanctions placed on him: things like being ordered to report to the police surgeon at Headquarters each time he calls in sick; or being denied the opportunity to work any overtime while designated a sick leave abuser.
Private industry practices are not necessarily applicable to nor interchangeable with government practices. There's a reason that the academics study both "business administration" and "public administration." Two very different animals.
That is why most companies are intolerant of sick leave abuse, they have no alternative and they also have a bottom line. I am glad that the NCPD follows up but since they have that kind of oversight it sounds like there is very little abuse. It doesn't sound like you need these type of payouts as an incentive.
Heaven forbid Newsday actually do its dang job and provide an in-depth analysis of such things.
However, I would imagine it's at the current rate. Others have said the number of days on a payout is capped. Besides, given the length of time it takes to get to retirement, I seriously doubt anyone has sick days left over from their years as a rookie or newjack. You're talking 20-odd years of service.
Likewise, when you take a sick day now, they pay you the salary you are currently earning, so why would a payout on final leave it be any different?
I would agree it is at the current rate especially knowing our county,imagine them actually tracking the hourly rate! If they have $600,000 worth of sick leave and vacation it could go back quiet a ways. Even looking back 10 years some of those salaries have come close to double what they were making.
The contractual caps on termination pay were temporarily lifted in order to provide additional incentive for retirements. Once the incentive expires, the caps return.
There was an additional incentive of something like $1500 per year of service but it's not clear from the article if that was part of the payout quoted, like raising the cap wasn't enough.
The other part of this story that is missing is the other 125 police officers that retired, while there payout may have been lower than those mentioned I would expect many of them to be close in value.
That is why most companies are intolerant of sick leave abuse, they have no alternative and they also have a bottom line. I am glad that the NCPD follows up but since they have that kind of oversight it sounds like there is very little abuse. It doesn't sound like you need these type of payouts as an incentive.
It's not such a big deal considering NYC Sanitation even does it to garbagemen (who probably DON'T get a big bonus of sick day pay upon retirement but correct me if I am wrong).
Oh you're not going to get an answer on that because you are right. The "incentive" is a big juicy $$$ treat from the taxpayers cooked up by the unions and County "leaders."
love the anger towards the pension folks..........All of you complainers stop you are going to get sick. As grown ups we all make our own decisions on things. Don't begrudge the civil servants now that you are getting close to retirement age. Guess they picked the correct choice as far as long term stability and life time monthly payments. Opps I dropped my lobster tail on the key board.
Maybe the "rest of us" are actually saving our own money and don't plan to become wards of the State when we are retired.
When NYS goes bankrupt and voids the pensions, if I see you selling pencils on the corner, I'll be sure to buy one from you!
Pensions have zero to do with nys problems. Again this was caused by wall street criminals.
What does Wall Street have to do with NY State Pensions? The wisdom of our legislature saw fit to stop employee donations to retirement when the stock market was hitting new highs what ever sense that makes; too much money in the pension system would have been a problem? They have since corrected this ridiculous philosophy but taxpayers will need to fund shortfalls for the near term retirements.
NY State is one of the wealthiest states and has the highest deficit next to California and one of the highest tax rates, the cost of pensions is a huge part of why we are running record deficits.
How many people do you know that take a "mental health" day? Or use their sick time to take kids to appointments, and the like? The police department wants to make sure that sick leave is used for those who are truly sick. Quite different from the private sector.
You seem to like to throw the word fraud around a lot which indicates that your opinions on the issue are quite biased. The truth is that sick leave in the police department is both a contractual and departmental issue and is administered quite differently than you'd imagine. This is not the private sector and you can't expect it to be run that way.
And by the way, it was you who raised the insurance analogy: "Geico doesn't pay it homeowners for not having their house burn down." I simply refuted your statement.
You still haven't made a convincing argument as to why they need sick day rollovers and payouts? They are given tons of sick days that they can use legitimately, and there is a good enforcement mechanism. Given that, there should really be no fear of massive overtime unless the police allow widespread sick day fraud to take place. If you are so sure that they enforce those sick days, then there is no need to have rollovers and payouts. It is WAY less expensive to pay out overtime than it is to pay accumulated sick leave.
Let's be honest. The only reason for this practice is to disguise extra compensation as sick days. It's great collective bargaining negotiating, and of course we had politians who rolled over and played nice. However, at what cost? These kind of giveaways in the aggregate are crippling to our public budgets and to the taxpayers in general. We essentially are subsidizing police officers and their families beyond what the market requires. It really is shame.
It's no wonder the rest of the nation always points to Nassau and Suffolk county as the bastions of local government giveaways and fiscal mismanagement. We are a joke.
You still haven't made a convincing argument as to why they need sick day rollovers and payouts? They are given tons of sick days that they can use legitimately, and there is a good enforcement mechanism. Given that, there should really be no fear of massive overtime unless the police allow widespread sick day fraud to take place. If you are so sure that they enforce those sick days, then there is no need to have rollovers and payouts. It is WAY less expensive to pay out overtime than it is to pay accumulated sick leave.
Let's be honest. The only reason for this practice is to disguise extra compensation as sick days. It's great collective bargaining negotiating, and of course we had politians who rolled over and played nice. However, at what cost? These kind of giveaways in the aggregate are crippling to our public budgets and to the taxpayers in general. We essentially are subsidizing police officers and their families beyond what the market requires. It really is shame.
It's no wonder the rest of the nation always points to Nassau and Suffolk county as the bastions of local government giveaways and fiscal mismanagement. We are a joke.
A. It's not my intention to make a convincing argument for anything. I've never tried to justify -- only explain.
B. The rest of your post is simply your opinion -- nothing more or less. There are many others with equally valid -- but opposite -- points of view.
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