Attempts to make double-dipping in the state pension program legal began in 1999, when legislators considered a bill allowing certain retired public employees to work in the university system without losing their benefits.

Assemblyman Kelly Thomas, D-Las Vegas, argued that the state demanded higher standards in education but discouraged teachers from returning to work after retirement.

He said his bill would “empower teachers to teach.”

But many lawmakers objected to changing the law to benefit one category of workers, so they turned the bill into a study of the impact of allowing certain retired workers to collect pay checks and retirement checks simultaneously.

The idea returned during the 2001 legislative session in the form of Assembly Bill 555. During committee hearings, lawmakers heard testimony about the state’s kindergarten-through-college teacher shortage and the difficulty in filling positions, especially in special education, math and science.

Lawmakers agreed that the practice of rehiring retirees should be implemented but only for jobs where a “critical labor shortage” was in place. When establishing what positions qualified, officials had to consider:

» The turnover history;

» The number of positions compared with qualified workers;

» How long the position was vacant; and

» What happened with recruiting outside Nevada.

Retired workers immediately began signing up and by 2004, 140 members, including police officers and firefighters, were participating in the return-to-work plan, according to a study of the plan from 2001 to 2004.

Most participants were between the ages of 50 and 59, and most regular members were taking home about $100,000 annually, while police and firefighters were receiving in excess of $110,000.

Lawmakers modified the law in 2003 by requiring that the position be redesignated with critical-labor-shortage status every two years, but that didn’t slow the sign-ups or scare away participants.

By 2008, 525 retired state workers had been rehired under the critical labor shortage law. By June 30, 2009, 661 retirees had been re-employed under the program.

Since AB 555 was scheduled to expire in 2009, lawmakers revisited the program with a new measure, AB 488.

Under this plan, anyone applying after June 20, 2009 would have to apply under the new provisions in the new bill.

The new rules required some of the old restrictions: Schools or agencies requesting these posts must reveal the turnover history for the position, the number of qualified applicants they received and the length of time the post has been vacant.

They also must detail the difficulty they’ve had filling the position and the history of recruitment.

All requests must be made to the “designating authority” in an open public meeting, and the employer must submit written findings to PERS. The new law also required that the position be designated by the board of trustees for each school district instead of by the Nevada Department of Education.

Again, participants signed up.

In the first six months of 2009, state employers filed 19 requests for critical labor shortage positions. Most were in the education field.

Later in 2009, positions were sought across the state by schools, hospitals, a rural airport, a mosquito control district and other agencies. A total of 34 positions were sought in 2009.

By 2010, the number dropped to about 16, according to PERS records. But some of the schools and other employers had kept their 2009 workers on for two-year positions, since they only have to recertify every two years.

School districts said they won’t be filing requests for the 2011-12 school year until later in 2011.

Source: rgj.com