Bob Jones: Double-dipping, SSO, WEP

From RH Jones, November 25, 2006

Subject: Double dipping hurting our STRS

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To all:

The following Akron Beacon Journal, Friday, 11/24/06, Editorial page B3 is a totally outstanding letter by a fellow Norton Ohio retired teacher, Ruth Johnson. Please hang file it. I quote:

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Double dipping is outrageous

(From the Akron Beacon Journal, 11/24/06)

Taxpayers should protest the continuing greed by state retirement system ``retirees'' who, through well-oiled connections (boards of trustees, city and county councils, state officials) are luckily able to continue in the jobs they retired from. The beauty of this graft is that the newly retired employees draw about double the salary they were earning before retirement.

Ohio law permits a state retirement system member to retire and subsequently be re-employed in a position covered by the same or another system: the Public Employees Retirement System, Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund, School Employees Retirement System, State Teachers Retirement System and State Highway Patrol Retirement System.

Ohio's laws should be changed to prevent such outrageous double dipping. Ironically, federal retirees are not permitted to double dip. A retiree who is re-employed in a federal job must forfeit his or her pension.

Contrast state retirees' double dipping with the situation of those receiving unemployment compensation, who must offset their compensation by any earnings received on another job.

Thus, a person earning, say, just the minimum wage in another job must offset his or her unemployment compensation by such job earnings.

It is immoral (and should be illegal) for those at the top of public payrolls to reap such double salary windfalls while those at the bottom economic rungs are penalized by lopsided public policies.

Hogwash to those who say the double dipper is too talented and skilled to be replaced. In this economic climate, there is plenty of untapped young talent desiring an opportunity to advance in their careers.
Ruth Johnson
Norton

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My thinking on her very fine letter to the editor is that: We should forward it on to our state reps. They need to pass legislation to correct "double dipping" in Ohio public pensions. Retired public servants suffer HC/Rx losses due to the unfair ORC.

Please understand that this is much different from the federal SSO/WEP that also unfairly targets retired public employees. We earned our Social Security. We, or our spouses, paid into it and deserve full retirement benefits as we were promised we would enjoy.

RHJones, Proud to be a CORE Lifer