Las Vegas Review-Journal's double-dipping expose shows why pension records must be public

If Nevada Senate Democrats had their way, you never would have found out about the double dippers recently uncovered by the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Arthur Kane.

Double dippers are government employees who retire, collect a pension and go back to work. Some of them go back to the exact same job they had before they, ahem, retired. The only difference is they’re getting paid twice.

It’s nice work — if you’re not paying for it.

But you are. Kane reported that the Public Employees Retirement System, funded by your tax dollars, paid $97 million between 2001 and 2014 to “retirees” who worked full-time for government. Last year, PERS paid more than $7 million to retirees who also cashed paychecks worth $9 million. And those numbers are low, because PERS refuses to release information, such as years of service and retirement dates, that could be used to verify other double dippers.

Some double dippers use a “critical labor shortage” loophole to collect a full paycheck and an unreduced pension. Without the exemption, workers would give up their pension while working full time for Nevada government.

Read more: https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/news-columns/victor-joecks/rjs-double-dipping-expose-shows-why-pension-records-must-be-public/