Reply to a comment

Reply to this comment

1941 writes:

in response to aasdf:

Many of the complaints being voiced here are directed at employees who have excessive pay/benefits and don't pay their fair share.

At the extreme end are the police/firefighters. Too many stories have surfaced exposing the type of contracts these people have. While every department is slightly different the public is getting feed up.

For example....

1) The LA times recently ran a story about how most of the cell phones in state prison are (presumably) being smuggled in by the guards (selling them to the inmates). And since they are NOT searched they can't stop the problem. The reason they are not searched is because they get paid WALK time, so as soon as they leave their car they are on the clock and vice versa. Searching the guards would cost the state millions in OT.

2) Pension spiking, many employees get to pad their final year salary with unused sick time and other sources to artifically bump up the retirement pay

3) Virturally all the employees of this type are excluded from Social Security, which in itself is a benefit. Thats because 50% of the SS cost is born by the employee. Employees of this group under contribute to their retirement and some don't pay anything at all. And many received a huge pension increase (thanks to Gray Davis signing SB400) which allows them to retire in the early 50's with almost 90% of the highest (padded salary). Generally speaking, at that time no additional cost were paid by the employees (this only changed in the past few years).

4) Liberal Workers Comp Rules, employees of this group have extremely loose rules regarding worker's comp. For example they can injury themselves on a off day and legally file a claim. And if there are forced to retire the typical scam is to "negotiate" part of the retirement as tax free (for the rest of their life). There is a long list of injurys that are automatically covered regardless of where they occured. It got so bad with the CHP it became known as "Chief's Disease".

I could go on but I save it for later.

So next time you here about a budget crisis and a need to raise taxes remember these points.

Since I prefer fact to stories, I looked up the CA codes reflecting SB400. It was never adopted by Ventura County or Los Angeles County. Where does it apply locally? Also, the CA codes for CERL prohibit the use of sick leave for retirement purposes. What employees get to use sick time for retirement purposes? What agency allows an employee to be injured at home and legally claim it as work related? We want facts, not stories, so we can address this with the elected officials that control these issues.


Featured Promotions