During California’s 2012 budget crisis, much attention focused on the state’s pension liabilities—which led to a deeper focus on the public-employee gimmicks that drove up compensation costs. The state never fully addressed the problem, despite passing a pension-reform law that banned most pension spiking. Here we are at roughly the same place 13 years later.
Even before recent stock market jitters, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) was chronically underfunded. Now the stories of public-employee gamesmanship are appearing again. They are rife in the public-safety sector, where powerful unions avert reform.
Years ago, the Sacramento Bee coined the term “Chief’s Disease,” referring to the large percentage of high-ranking officers who claimed an injury within two years of retirement to boost pensions. Now the Los Angeles Times uses the term “LAPD Lottery,” referring to Los Angeles having “paid out at least $68.5 million over the last five years to resolve lawsuits filed by officers who claimed to be victims of sexual harassment, racial discrimination or retaliation against whistleblowers.”
That’s a new one, but we’re seeing some of the old antics resurface, including use of the overtime system to increase pay. A recent Bee analysis found that 32 Sacramento officers “doubled their salaries through overtime pay for at least one year” and that 15 doubled their pay over multiple years. A quick perusal of the Transparent California website will find this problem endemic statewide—with overtime pay and other special compensation driving up police pay to incredible levels.
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Pampered state workers threaten to strike Elon Musk vs. the ‘big beautiful bill’ Crime seems to pay in L.A. City Hall NDAs are for Hollywood, not Sacramento Three common sense bills in Sacramento It’s clear, also, the state never adequately addressed workers-compensation abuses. The Orange County Register reported recently that a former Westminster officer “was charged with committing workers’ compensation insurance fraud after she allegedly drank and danced” at a music festival and took ski trips after receiving $600,000 from the city for a disability following an altercation with a suspect. Credit the police department and district attorney for taking this matter seriously.These are warning signs. The Legislature shouldn’t wait for another financial crisis to begin revisiting the liabilities and loopholes in the state’s compensation system.
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