‘CT state employees rack up huge pensions through overtime. Some lawmakers want it to stop’ | Hartford Courant

“I’m trying to look out for taxpayers, and I don’t have any ill will toward any state employees,” Sampson told The Courant in an interview.

As published by the Hartford Courant:

With the state spending $378 million last year on overtime, legislators are debating a controversial bill to eliminate overtime from state pension calculations.

The budget-writing appropriations committee will hold a public hearing Friday on the issue, which has already generated opposition from corrections and parole officers who have relied on overtime pay for years as part of their compensation.

Sen. Rob Sampson, a Wolcott Republican who is a chief co-sponsor of the bill, said he believes the general public is not aware of the amount of overtime the state pays. That number includes about 20 employees making more than $200,000 each last year in overtime alone. Nearly 1,700 state employees across multiple departments were paid more than $50,000 in overtime each, while nearly 2,600 employees earned more than $40,000 in overtime in addition to their salaries, according to the state comptroller.

“I’m trying to look out for taxpayers, and I don’t have any ill will toward any state employees,” Sampson told The Courant in an interview.

The problem, Sampson said, is that some agencies with the highest amounts of overtime need to hire more employees, including state troopers, corrections officers in the prisons, and nurses in two public psychiatric hospitals in Middletown.

“In corrections, I don’t think we are properly staffed,” Sampson said. “The place ought to be staffed better so that we don’t have to rely on such an immense amount of overtime. In a lot of cases, it’s mandatory. … I’m not trying to harm these guys. I just want to make sure that those agencies are properly managed and properly staffed and the workers are properly compensated.”

The latest statistics from the comptroller’s office show the highest amounts of overtime last year were in the state prison system, which paid $113 million, followed by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services at $62 million and the state police at $60 million, according to the records.

Testimony

Even several days ahead of the hearing, residents have already weighed in on both sides of the issue. Susan Bradford submitted written testimony that raised concerns about abuse of the overtime system.

“I support this bill that seeks to better manage pension calculations so that they are not exploited by undeserving bad actors,” Bradford wrote.

Fabio Mazo, a prison guard for nearly seven years, said that he relies on overtime as part of a difficult job that has led to injuries when dealing with dangerous criminals.

“I have been assaulted on the job, suffered injuries that required two knee surgeries, and continue to put my body and mind through immense stress,” Mazo wrote to the committee. “Yet, I continue to serve with dedication. I have saved lives inside and encouraged the incarcerated population to see a future beyond prison. But now, my own future is being placed in jeopardy.”

Overtime, he said, has become an integral part of the job for fellow officers because the prisons are understaffed due to difficulty recruiting candidates for a highly demanding job.

“Many of us are forced to work overtime, not out of choice, but because the department is severely understaffed,” Mazo said. “We miss holidays, weekends, and time with our families not because we want to, but because we have no choice. Some officers volunteer for extra shifts, while others are mandated to stay. We go to work for the job we signed up for and the benefits we were promised, not to have them stripped away simply because we work harder.”

Another officer in the prisons, Bernard Punter, currently works in Cheshire at the Manson Youth Institution in a career that has now reached 13 years.

“One of the most important reasons why I chose this job is because of the pension,” Punter wrote. “Life isn’t easy and day to day, it’s getting worse because of expenses. A corrections officer is a very dangerous and stressful job. All the criminals the outside world forgets about — we deal with them on a day-to-day basis. I believe each and every officer deserves their pensions. We work 16 hours a day, night and day.”

Punter added, “It’s a hazardous duty job, and a lot of us don’t live too long after retirement because of the stressors and injuries related to the job. Calculated overtime in our pension is what I signed up for 13 years ago. It is unfair to try to take that away now.”

Republicans have been concerned about the pension issue for years, but Sampson says this marks the first time that he recalls a public hearing being scheduled by the Democratic-controlled committee. The bill, he said, is “a conversation starter” that would not impact anyone who is already receiving a pension.

“If you were promised certain benefits, then you deserve to get them,” Sampson said. “It’s not right to change the rules of the game on folks. … For me, the best plan would be to set a date certain in the future, which could be three years from now. … I’m reluctant to make an immediate change. I would want to phase it in so that people wouldn’t think they were getting cheated out of what they were promised.”

In addition, deputy House Republican leader Thomas O’Dea of New Canaan has offered a separate bill to cap the pensions at $150,000 per year. Four retirees were paid pensions of more than $300,000 last year, and 3,244 retirees during the 2023 fiscal year were paid more than $100,000 each. Those retirees, officials noted, would not see any changes because they would be grandfathered in as the legislature does not retroactively take away benefits. The proposals would apply only going forward.

Overtime

Among the top 25 individuals with the most overtime last year, 17 work for the state police, while six work in mental health facilities. Three of the top five employees, at more than $230,000 each for overtime alone, work at the Whiting Forensic Institute, an inpatient psychiatric facility for those in the criminal justice system who require 24-hour care and have been committed by the Psychiatric Security Review Board or need to have their competency restored before trial.

Including their base salaries, the top five overtime employees last year received total compensation of more than $380,000 each. The highest-paid was a state police dog handler who received $439,000 overall, including the highest amount of overtime at $303,000. Through the years, he has handled dogs who search for fleeing suspects and missing persons at all hours of the day and night.

Pension reforms

Gov. Ned Lamont and lawmakers have noted that the legislature has made various bipartisan reforms that make the system different from the highly lucrative Tier 1 pensions that are paid to state employees who were hired before 1984.

The first key reform was that new employees hired after July 31, 2017 now have a hybrid system of a traditional pension and a 401(k)-style plan. That is the least lucrative of the multiple state retirement tiers and far less generous than the Tier 1 plans.

Another key reform that was made under then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was a change in the long-running practice that state troopers and other employees could work large amounts of overtime in their final three years in order to boost their lifetime pensions. Now, the newly hired employees since 2017 have their overtime calculated based on a 25-year rolling average, rather than based on only the final three years of employment. As such, the employee would have to work large amounts of overtime throughout an entire career, rather than simply in the final three years to impact a pension.

But a state audit in 2020 said that some troopers had doubled and nearly tripled their salaries through overtime.

In an audit of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection over two fiscal years, the state’s bipartisan auditors found that 56% of troopers in the various barracks surveyed had earned more money in overtime than in their base salaries. The base salaries ranged as high as $83,000, and the amount of overtime ranged as high as $190,000 per year, the audit said. The overtime effectively equaled 100% to 244% of their base salaries, the report said.

While the overtime is highly lucrative for the troopers, the report said that too much work can lead to fatigue and lower performance. The report showed more than 3,000 instances when troopers worked 15 hours per day and nearly 400 instances when they worked 10 days in a row with no days off. The work ranged as high as 84 consecutive days that spanned nearly three months with no time off, the report said.

Overall pensions

As the state seeks to trim costs and balance its budget, state statistics show that hundreds of retired state employees are collecting six-figure pensions, with the number growing each year with cost-of-living increases.

The top four retired state employees are now receiving more than $300,000 each in annual pensions. The statistics also show that, with cost-of-living increases ranging from 2.5% to 6% every year, the payments have been increasing at a steady pace, for them and for thousands of other retirees.

The annual increases will likely boost additional retirees beyond the $300,000 mark soon because there are five additional retirees currently being paid more than $280,000 each, according to statistics from the state comptroller’s office. Overall, state statistics show that 3,244 retirees during the 2023 fiscal year were paid more than $100,000 each, a sharp jump from only 378 retirees who were receiving more than $100,000 in 2010.