“CA several years back allowed state employees to retire at age 50 and 90% of their last salary or some dumb combination. “
I believe you are mistaken! CA allows “public service employees” ( mostly cops and FFs) to retire at 50, but not anyone else. The State did give one-time payments to all employees fifteen years ago when it was flush with “extra money” that it now wishes it had kept. Retirements are pegged at some percentage of their last three years pay or something along those lines, but that isn’t unique to CA. I knew a guy who retired from the NYPD ( they upped his pension by upping his last three years pay), he moved out to Concord, CA where he got a job with the USPS ( because NY offers early outs for cops), then he retired from the USPS and was living on easy street with two pensions. The real problem here is that pensions are indexed, so they go up every year. People retire and end up getting more in their pensions than they earned while working.
“”I believe you are mistaken! CA allows “public service employees” ( mostly cops and FFs) to retire at 50, but not anyone else””
Not true - Wouldn’t you call someone working at the CA Franchise Tax Board or at DMV or the CA Highway Patrol (desk job) a STATE EMPLOYEE?
We had personal friends and relatives who took that retirement package offer and I believe I did indicate that the “age” requirement differed in different links so whether at 50 or 55 - not sure. I believe the ones we know took it at 55...and laughed all the way to the bank. One had high blood pressure which had been treated for years and years and was written up at retirement with the state as a disability and his pension was increased because of that. “Let’s say the job caused it” was the reasoning.
I think everyone is aware of the CA pension plans offered for employees who were firemen or cops - their earnings were inflated with overtime just before retirement so as to raise the monthly pension awarded. It was a big stink at the time and certainly made the news.
It has been a long time - probably 20+ years ago so I don’t remember all the details. My best guess for the time this was taking place was the late ‘90’s.. We moved out of CA in 2006 and it was definitely quite awhile before that.
Excerpt from the second link in my post. My estimate was pretty close - 1999 - I said 20+ years. It was not a one time payout as you suggested. Not that I remember or can find...
“”With the stroke of a pen, California Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation that gave prison guards, park rangers, Cal State professors and other state employees the kind of retirement security normally reserved for the wealthy.
More than 200,000 civil servants became eligible to retire at 55 — and in many cases collect more than half their highest salary for life. California Highway Patrol officers could retire at 50 and receive as much as 90% of their peak pay for as long as they lived.
This series is a partnership of
Los Angeles Times CALmatters Capital Public Radio
Proponents sold the measure in 1999 with the promise that it would impose no new costs on California taxpayers. The state employees’ pension fund, they said, would grow fast enough to pay the bill in full.””