On the first day of the shutdown, state unemployment offices in the mid-Atlantic received an unusual number of applications from federal employees -- some getting more in one day than an entire year.
We trust our public employees with taxpayers’ dollars, public resources and essential services -- but does any of that mean they’ll make the right choice for their own retirement?
Many public employees have waited years for salary increases, and recent surveys indicate pay freezes are continuing to persist. The implications have been far-reaching, from hindering employee retention to hurting morale.
Miami city commissioners, who in recent years have cut severance pay and pensions to balance budgets, could vote Tuesday to allow four of the city's highest earners to return from retirement and collect their pension on top of their hefty salary.
Recent moves by the republican-controlled legislature that could hurt the city's finances has raised speculation that it being targeted as part of a political vendetta.
No longer just concerned with saving the state's underfunded pension system money, reform efforts now seek to stop allowing interlopers who aren't state workers into the taxpayer-supported retirement systems.
A pension reform bill that would have moved new state workers and teachers into a 401K plan and blocked them from enrolling in the state pension system, failed in the Florida senate. Several Republicans joined the Democratic minority to defeat the measure 22-18.
Under an unusual arrangement dating back to 1948, information about the Boston-area transit agency's pension system doesn't have to be made public. That may soon change, and it ought to.
Moody’s Investors Service announced its highly anticipated new ratings rules, which could result in downgrades for dozens of cities and school districts.
Source: Newark Star-Ledger | New Jersey |
April 17, 2013
Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have allowed towns to hire all-union workers to rebuild key pieces of infrastructure in the wake of Hurricane Sandy under project labor agreements.
No longer in denial about its dwindling numbers and diminished political power, organized labor unions are exploring new, potentially risky approaches for growing their memberships.
Fraud is on the rise. There is evidence that fraud has permeated virtually every government-based benefit program at the state, local and federal level. The federal government estimates that three to five percent of public assistance dollars are lost each year to fraud, and tax related identity fraud has grown 650% since 2008.
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