Posted on 01/18/2012 8:36:31 PM PST by WOBBLY BOB
In November 2011, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reported $86 million in unused vacation pay, sick time, and other severance had been paid to departing state workers and MnSCU employees in the past three years. And the total is growing by the day.
Now, the University of Minnesota has released its separate payroll records, showing it paid departing employees $30 million during the same time period.
That brings the total to at least $116 million for all departing state workers in the past three years.
(Excerpt) Read more at kstp.com ...
-Lori Lamb, MnSCU Vice Chancellor for Human Resources.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I think there's an effort out there by people in our society to denigrate, demonize and destroy public workers... They're living modest lives like every Minnesotan. (The compensation) allows them to live with a little dignity after a whole career, instead of living in poverty."
-Eliot Seide, Executive Director, AFSCME Council 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I think it's fair. And I'm appreciative."
-Andy Doom, the former northern regional manager for the MN Dept. of Corrections. Doom, who earned $66,621.19 from 1,380 hours of sick time, said that was only a portion of the more than 4,000 sick leave hours he had accumulated in his 401/2 years on the state payroll. The state allows a departing employee to be paid for varying percentages of total unused sick and vacation time.
Pawlenty knew he had no chance.
...as long as the student loan gravy-train continues, there’s plenty of money for payouts like these.
Oh my Alma Mater. There was tons...tons of wasteful spending there. They built a womens hockey arena, because the mens hockey arena was to big. Obvious the dimensions of the ice rink was identical, but they didn’t want to play in front of an arena of empty seat, so they built a small one. Lets get into the football stadium. They had a beautiful (needed repairs) one there, but they moved to the metrodome, and bulldozed it. 15 years later, they begin the drive to build on campus stadium. So what did they do, they built a 300 million dollar stadium that looked nearly identical to the one they bulldozed. One interesting feature it has, is the largest home locker room in the entire country, really necessary.
You forgot to add that in addition to all of the spending fans get to see one of the worst division I college football teams in the country. You guys going to schedule New Mexico State or South Dakota again?
Unlike the private sector, state employees who retire are paid for unused vacation and sick time, sometimes resulting in obscene and absurd payouts.
The Pioneer Press recently revealed that some high-ranking college administratorsin the state colleges and universities system received monster payouts.
For example, the former chancellor of the State Colleges and Universities System (MnSCU), raked in nearly $93,000 for unused sick time and nearly $47,0000 for unused vacation time.
Another MnSCU bigwig, Jon Quistgaard, walked off with a $126,000 check when he retired from Bemidji State University.
Two other administrators from MnSCU got six-figure payouts as well.
This practice is defended as one that prevents the “abuse” of sick leave and vacation time.
Funny, I thought the prevention of abuse came from state employment policies that prevent - guess what? - the abuse of sick leave and vacation leave.
Moreover, the problem first stems from the fact that public employees get obscene amounts of sick and vacation leave in the first place.
Let’s take a look at a janitor at a local public community college. The janitor, the kind of downtrodden Workin’ Man lionized by the Left, is represented by the AFSCME public employee union.
Here’s what the contract says about holidays, vacation, and sick leave for a janitor with seniority:
Holidays:
* Independence Day
* Labor Day
* Veterans Day
* Thanksgiving Day
* Day after Thanksgiving Day
* Christmas Day
* New Year’s Day
* Martin Luther King Day
* President’s Day
* Memorial Day
Vacation: 234 hours (29.25 days) of vacation each year.
Sick leave: 104 hours (13 days) of sick leave each year.
That’s 418 hours (52.25 days) of paid time off each year. That’s about 20% of a normal work year!
I’m unaware of any private sector company that offers this
kind of paid time off.Also unaware of any private sector company that offers unused sick and vacation payouts.
No wonder these big payouts are happening. It’s next to impossible to take 20% of the work year off.
here’s the solution: legislation that caps the amount of vacation and sick leave an employee gets. Second, ban
the practice of payouts for unused sick and vacation leave.
Take these issues away from the bargaining table and fix them by legislation. After all, Governor Dayton is now negotiating a new deal with the very unions that backed his candidacy. Who is representing the taxpayer?
I am sure they are on the schedule. If not, U of Toledo or U of Northern or Southern Illinois may have to fill in. One season, I think U of Toledo beat U of Minnesota 38-7.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.