10 Insanely Overpaid Public Employees
Atlantic City has proven to be the land of the riches for some—or at least for cops. According to a report by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation in 2009, 160 retiring police and firefighters received $13.7 million for unused sick leave—that’s in addition to hefty pension plans. Former police chief John Mooney takes the top spot with a pension of $147,016.
Padded pension plans are one thing—secret ones are another. In Georgia, two state pension funds, the Teachers Retirement System and Employees’ Retirement System, are actually prohibited by state law from disclosing pension data for more than 100,000 workers in the public sector. Perhaps the state’s afraid of a little public backlash—according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, of this wealth of retirees, 1,100 get six figures, including one who cashes in a pretty penny—almost $318,000 per year for life.
When it comes to government employees, there’s plenty of news about laid off social workers in Florida, furloughed forest rangers in Minnesota, and underpaid teachers everywhere else. Yet even during these hard times, there are thousands of government employees who still earn great, big salaries – many of them hundreds of thousands more than the $400,000 Obama pulls down each year. In 2009, 347 Texas state employees earned more than the president; 53 of them made more than $600,000. In New York, 35 employees were paid over $400k last year. Since 2005, the number of Federal employees earning $150,000 plus has jumped tenfold: going from 12,399 to 171,689. Much of the increase has been in medicine. Doctors at veterans hospitals and prisons averaged $179,500 in 2010, up from $111,000 in 2005.
See our slideshow here on 10 insanely overpaid government employees. We reported all their yearly earnings, which in addition to base salary, includes bonuses, overtime pay, and other pay. The “other pay” can be things like unused sick days--$594,976 worth of them for one California employee – something private sector employees could only dream of. Oh, and did we mention all of them are men?
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