Thursday, September 10, 2020

SOME CA PENSIONERS ABOUT TO GET BAD NEWS

by Bob Walsh

A lot of counties are in the CalPERS pension system, but they operate by slightly different rules.  Many of them make it, or at least USED TO make it, much easier to engage in what is called "pension spiking."  This is manipulating your final year (or two or three) of compensation to give you a much higher pension that you would otherwise be entitled.  This includes things like maxing out your overtime (which does not count for pension for state civil service workers) or lumping your cashout of unused vacation, etc. into final compensation.  

The courts have now ruled that this is a no-no, retroactively.  A lot of local agencies that pay into CalPERS will now be going back and refiguring pensions and (presumably) going after overpayments.  

I kind of wish they would go after "Chief's Disease."  This peculiar disease seems to affect only high level CHP officers and strikes them months before retirement, meaning they go out on a disability retirement, which is tax-free.  

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