According to a union leader, some Los Angeles city employees are “double-dipping” by retiring and then starting a new job at the Department of Water and Power while collecting a pension for the first job.
Gus Corona, head of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18, which represents nearly all DWP workers, said the double dip hurts the city's finances and the DWP's retirement plan, and that it came in violation of the union negotiation process.
In a cease and desist letter addressed to the city attorney. Hydee Feldstein Soto on March 11, Corona called the situation “DROP on steroids,” referring to a police and fire department program that allows participants to collect their salaries and pensions simultaneously for the last five years of their careers.
Corona wrote that his union “will not accept this or any threat to the financial health of the City, the financial health of DWP employee retirement plans, or the City's obligation to bargain in good faith.”
The city attorney's office has “unilaterally changed its interpretation” of the city charter, Corona wrote, allowing workers to double-dip despite a ban against employees of the City of California Employees Retirement System. Los Angeles who accept another paying job in the city.
So far, Corona said in an interview, four to six city employees have retired from a position at LACERS and then taken on a new salaried position at DWP, which has its own pension system.
But in his cease-and-desist letter, he predicted “cascading effects,” with employees rushing to take advantage of the situation and city taxpayers footing the bill.
“It would trigger an avalanche of retirements from positions covered by LACERS, exacerbating the already extreme exodus of knowledgeable and experienced employees from key positions,” Corona wrote.
City employees who transfer from a LACERS position to DWP could also collect a DWP pension when they retire, Corona said.
A representative of the 721 Service Employees International Union, a union that represents the city's civilian employees covered by LACERS, declined to comment on the cease-and-desist letter.
The city attorney's office said it is not illegal to leave a position at LACERS and begin a position at DWP, noting that the opposite has long been permitted.
“Under the Charter, hard-working employees of the Department of Water and Power, for more than 80 years, have been able to retire, collect a pension, and then seek further employment with the City in positions covered by LACERS. “This decades-old practice is not illegal,” the city prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
“Just as DWP retirees have done for decades in other City roles, LACERS retirees can play a key role in bringing their expertise to positions at DWP,” the statement said.
Part of the dispute between IBEW Local 18 and the city attorney's office comes down to whether the DWP falls under the city charter's prohibition on taking another city job after retirement.
In his cease and desist letter, Corona argued that a “city” job includes positions at the DWP.
IBEW Local 18 is also filing an unfair practices charge with the Los Angeles Employee Relations Board for the city's alleged failure to notify and “meet and confer” with the union about its revised interpretation of the bylaws.
The city attorney's office said it plans to respond to Corona's letter in writing.
