Prison guards

Something happened this past week in California that is a small item in the overall scheme of things but represents one of the major problems with pensions. If you have a defined benefit pension plan like most public employee plans you determine your pension benefit by how much money you earn in the last years of work, normally the last three years. If your pension plans says it will pay your 1.5% of your final average salary times the number of years you work there, then the amount you earn in those last years is critical. Over the years this has led to the practice of working lots of overtime in those last years to build up your pension. These extra hours were available since people nearing retirement are the most senior employees and can demand the overtime.

Now back to California. The Governor Jerry Brown received a lot of campaign help from members of the prison guard union so he recently negotiated some good deals for them.

The governor is extending this benefit only to members of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., a union that spent nearly $2 million to help him win election last year

They are now allowed to accumulate vacation time in unlimited amounts and then to apply those earnings to the last years of work to raise their pension. Since they are eligible for 8 weeks of vacation after one year of service, this can add up to a lot of vacation time. Currently the average guard has 19 weeks of accumulated leave and the starting pay for a guard is $78,000 per year. When this vacation time is added to the employee near retirement they can use their wage at that time which would be considerably higher than the wage they had when the first became eligible for the leave.

The deal also would give the members 18 more days off over the life of the two-year contract, according to Schroeder, bringing the typical prison guard's time off to more than eight weeks in the first year.

Another change that occurred is that the guards used to get an extra $130 per month if they stayed physically fit but that is now changed to just having an annual physical to qualify for the $130.

This is an example of what has been going on all over the country. Unions organize and help with time and money to elect leaders who then offer them extra benefits. This is the thing that the Governor of Wisconsin is fighting but it is a battle that will affect all states.